
Class 







Book 



PRESENTED BY 



MONTCALM 

AT THE 

BATTLE OF CARILLON 

(TICONDEROGA) 
(JULY 8TH, 1758) 



BY 

MAURICE SAUTAI* 

CAPTAIN 5TH REGIMENT OF INFANTRY 

DETACHED TO THE HISTORICAL SECTION OF THE 

GENERAL STAFF OF THE ARMY 



Translated from the French by 

JOHN S. WATTS 



PRINTED FOR THE 
FORT TICONDEROGA MUSEUM 

• Capt. Sautai was killed in the first German advance, 1914. 



X 










Seigneur dsSt.Veran, Condiac,Tournemire,Vestric,StJulien d'Arpaon , 
Baron de ftataiac. 
Lieutenant- General dies arme'es duRoi 
Commandeurhonorairedc Torciro tie St.Louis&c. 
|Wfflanda/it in ebaf ds$ "troupes inmi \%aH'm 

n« a Ciraauu \* 1* Finn r WJ .tar ((front 



LOUIS JOSEPH, MARQUIS DE MONTCALM 



MONTCALM 

AT THE 

BATTLE OF CARILLON 

(TICONDEROGA) 
(JULY 8TH, I758) 



BY 

MAURICE SAUTAI* 

CAPTAIN 5TH REGIMENT OF INFANTRY 

DETACHED TO THE HISTORICAL SECTION OF THE 

GENERAL STAFF OF THE ARMY 



Translated from the French by 

JOHN S. WATTS 



PRINTED FOR THE 

FORT TICONDEROGA MUSEUM 

Capt. Sautai was killed in the first German advance, 1914. 



TABLE OF CONTENTS 

CHAPTER I 
Montcalm and His Soldiers 9 



PAGE 



CHAPTER II 
Before the Battle of Carillon 35 

CHAPTER III 
The Battle of Carillon 68 



ILLUSTRATIONS 



PAGE 



Marquis de Montcalm Frontispiece 

Map of the Hudson River, 1758 13 

Marquis de Vaudreuil 17 

Louis XV of France 21 

William Pitt 25 

Marquis de Lotbiniere 29 

Vicomte des Androuins 33 

Vicomte de Malartic 37 

Marquis de Levis 41 

Count de Bourgainville 45 

Major Robert Rogers 49 

Capture of Baron Dieskau 53 

Map of Lake George, 1758 57 

Plan of Abercrombie's Attack 61 

Embarking of Abercrombie's Army 65 

The "Black Watch" at Ticonderoga 69 

General Israel Putnam 75 

General Thomas Gage 81 

Lord Howe 84 

Lord Howe's Monument in Westminster Abbey ... 86 

Sir William Johnson 89 



MONTCALM 

at the BATTLE of CARILLON 

(TICONDEROGA, JULY 8th, 1758) 

CHAPTER I 
Montcalm and his Soldiers 

France and Canada, now preparing to offer a supreme ap- 
preciation of the Marquis de Montcalm, cannot too highly honor 
the memory of the heroic General and that of his valiant soldiers, 
who, following his example, generously shed their blood for the 
welfare of New France. 

The more closely the historian studies the great and noble 
personality of Montcalm, the deeper he will penetrate into the 
feelings and the intimate life of his comrades in arms and the 
more their brilliant qualifications will excite his admiration. 
Under Montcalm, officers and men of the battalions of the Queen, 
of Guyenne, of Beam, of Languedoc, of La Sarre, of Royal- 
Roussillon and of Berry struggled unflinchingly against a relent- 
less destiny. 

Observing them in action at the battle of Carillon, seeing them 
by their courage alone delaying for a time the course of that 
fatal destiny, no Frenchman nor Canadian will fail to endorse the 
opinion of M. de Cremilles, the Lieutenant General charged 
with the embarkation of our troops for Canada in 1775 : "No 
sovereign in the Universe could have braver or more loyal 
infantry." 

Before beginning the account of the victory of Montcalm at 
Carillon (Ticonderoga), one should know the condition of affairs 
in Canada early in 1758 and of the troops entrusted with its 
defence. 

9 



io MONTCALM 

Inspiring England and her colonists with his own virile en- 
ergy, Pitt wished to endeavor to deliver a final blow to French 
supremacy in northern America. Whilst he gave to Admiral 
Boscawen a fleet and a formidable landing force for the reduction 
of Louisburg, the Dunkirk of our overseas possessions, the Gate 
of Canada on the Atlantic Ocean, he planned also the invasion 
of Continental New France. For this purpose, an army of about 
16,000 men, comprising in its ranks nearly 10,000 militia and 
more than 6,000 regulars, under the command of Major Gen- 
eral Abercrombie, were to march on Montreal by Lake Cham- 
plain and the Richelieu River, capturing on the way the two chief 
posts of defence of the Colony in that region, Carillon and the fort 
Saint Frederic, both built on the shore of Lake Champlain. 
Moreover, Brigadier General John Forbes, with about 7,000 men, 
of whom nearly 2,000 were regulars, was to drive the French 
out of the Ohio Valley, after the reduction of fort Duquesne, their 
most important post on that river. 

To the 23,000 men the English were able to put in line on the 
Continent, the Governor of Canada, M. de Vaudreuil, could only 
oppose eight battalions of regulars, making 3,800 men; forty 
Free companies of marines, numbering a little more than 2,000 
men; 3,000 or 4,000 Canadian militia recruits and some savages; 
altogether about 10,000 men. 

The regulars were under the command of Major General the 
Marquis de Montcalm, who entered the service in 1721 at the 
age of thirteen, with the rank of ensign in the regiment of 
Hainaut, of which his father was the Lieutenant Colonel. 

Montcalm belonged to a family of Rouergue, concerning 
whom the glorious tradition ran: "War is the grave of the 
Montcalm." Wounded in 1746, when Colonel of the Auxerrois 
regiment, at the battle of Plaisance, he several times rallied his 
regiment against the charges of the Austrian cavalry '[ and in 1747, 
at the furious attack on the entrenchments of Assiette, Montcalm 
won the esteem of the Generals under whose command he had 
fought, amongst others, de Chevert and Marshal de Belle-Isle. 

Chosen by d'Argenson early in 1756 to succeed Baron de 
Dieskau, commanding the regulars in Canada, wounded and taken 



MONTCALM AND HIS SOLDIERS n 

prisoner by the English the previous year, Montcalm had proved 
himself entirely worthy of this appointment by his important 
success in the capture of fort Chouaguen (Oswego) in 1756 and 
of fort William Henry (or fort Saint George) in 1757. 

As Commander he possessed the qualities which inspire affec- 
tion : an extreme care for the welfare of the soldier and an equal 
solicitude for the advancement of his officers, for whom he was 
never weary of seeking rewards from the King, when they proved 
themselves worthy. 

His plain, very clear instructions and orders are models 
wherein is revealed a full understanding of the details and a deep 
knowledge of the military art of his time. Not sparing his own 
person, brave even to audacity, Montcalm furnished an example 
for the endurance of fatigue and privations, of the scorn of 
danger. Intelligence shone in his black eyes, the powder of his 
wig increasing the effect. "Ah! How small you arc!" cried a 
savage chieftain meeting him for the first time, "but I sec in your 
eyes the majesty of the oak and the spirit of the eagle." 

The character of Montcalm equalled his military capacity. 
Firm convictions, an ardent love of France, a high conception 
of honor, absolute disinterestedness, were its main features. 
Brought up on Greek and Latin literature, deeply influenced by 
the reading of Plutarch and Corneille, his soul shared the grandeur 
of their heroes. In his letters, rapid in stvle and concise, he re- 
veals himself overflowing with activity, full of fire and subtle 
iron)- and interested in intellectual matters. From several points 
of view Montcalm is associated with the Frenchmen of his cen- 
tury, of that brilliant, so seductive eighteenth century, but he is 
also and beyond everything a knightly soldier, one of the rare 
officers of his time, who dared also to take a wide view of affairs. 

During t|ie two years Montcalm was in Canada, his honest 
nature was ^subjected to a severe test. Before his eyes were 
exposed each day, with increasing impudence and audacity, the 
extortions and shameless robberies which undermined the Colony 
and were to become the principal cause of its loss. Canada was a 
diseased body of which a corrupt administration was engaged in 
completing the ruin. An unscrupulous man, of great intelligence, 



12 MONTCALM 

the Lord Lieutenant Bigot, held the finances of the Colony in his 
all-powerful hands. This grasping man had grouped around him- 
self the persons necessary for his purpose, who had usurped all 
the commerce of the Colony, foreign and domestic. Under his 
xgls was organized an association, "La Grande Societe" which 
seized for itself all branches of exchange, all the offices, all the 
provisions of food and wood, transportation, public works and 
treaties with the savages. If a quarter of the merchandise sup- 
posed to have been distributed to them in his name had actually 
been delivered, the King would have been joined not only by the 
savages of Canada but also those of all America. No ship entered 
the St. Lawrence without its cargo being immediately purchased 
bv Bigot and his associates ; stored at Ouebec in the building the 
people justly named "La Friponne" ; exchanged from hand to 
hand with a growing commission, amongst the members of La 
Grande Societe and finally sold to the King, by the last purchaser 
at a scandalous price. 

This pernicious example found imitators in employes of all 
kinds, storage guardians, clerks, who openly adopted the maxim 
that robbing the King was permissible. As if they had foreseen 
the approaching ruin of Canada, thev hurled themselves on that 
unhappy Colony in its death throes, harvesting feverishly with 
absolute impunity the fruit of their plunder. 

In the midst of the ruins and of the public misery, Bigot 
maintained an ostentatious establishment, gambled for such sums 
as makes one shudder, while the court of his flatterers swarmed 
about his mistress Madame Pean, the "Sultana," distributress of 
pardons and of favors. She was the wife of a subordinate 
officer of the Colony, who obligingly closed his eyes to the amours 
of the Steward and received in compensation an important interest 
in the manipulation of food stuffs. In a few years he had feloni- 
ously accumulated a fortune of several millions. 

With Pean, this "Verres" of the Colony, other proteges of 
Bigot entered into rivalry, common people, newly rich, full of in- 
solence and cynicism: Deschenaux, his secretary; Varin, Treas- 
urer of the Navy; Martel, Storage Guardian of Montreal, and the 
little hunchback Maurin, "a clerk at a low salary, a freak of nature 




CO 



14 MONTCALM 

with a face like a snail, traveling with a train of coaches and 
carryalls, spending more on carriages, on harness, on horses than 
a young rattle-brained coxcomb of a farmer;" finally Cadet, a 
butcher transformed to a Commissary General, later convicted of 
having, with his accomplices, sold to the King, for the sum of 
twenty-three millions that which had cost him but eleven millions. 
Such was the band of rogues who attached themselves like in- 
satiable vultures to the bosom of Canada and precipitated her 
ruin. The number of these knaves was further augmented by cer- 
tain officers of the Colony who had adopted their code of morals. 
The artillery service was under the command of a Captain Le Mer- 
cier, who entered Canada as a common soldier, was schoolmaster 
during a certain time in the little town of Beauport and became 
a dangerous intriguer, without talent and without conscience. 
Landing penniless he had amassed since 1750 a fortune estimated 
at 700,000 livres. An engineer, without any experience in his 
profession, M. de Lotbiniere, directed the works of fortification 
in Canada. Artillerist and engineer thought of nothing but to 
increase their fortunes, finding even a means of profit in prolong- 
ing the undertakings of their department, for they were parties, 
under borrowed names, in all the contracts and reserved for them- 
selves a share of the fraudulent profits in buildings, in the supply 
of tools, the transportation of materials and also in the sale of 
brandy and wine to all who worked under their orders. 

The Governor General, the Marquis de Vaudreuil, might have 
been able to bridle this flood of knavery and robbery, but he had 
not the independence and strength of character to curb it. He 
preferred to shut his eyes to this corruption, which rose like a 
tidal wave to his immediate circle, not sparing even his own 
brother, M. de Rigaud de Vaudreuil, Governor of Montreal. 
Though his honesty placed him personally beyond suspicion, his 
culpable weakness nevertheless had the disastrous effect of en- 
couraging the authors of the embezzlements and robberies'. Slow 
in making a decision, often neglecting to take the most elementary 
precautions, M. de Vaudreuil, was also incapable of dissipating 
the difficulties of a critical situation, which demanded enormous 
energy and foresight. According to the War Commissary Dor- 



MONTCALM AND HIS SOLDIERS 15 

eil, an honest and faithful critic, he was "a General who had good 
and straight intentions, who is amiable, benevolent, easy of access 
and alwavs officiously kind in civility, but the circumstances and 
the actual task are too formidable for his head. He has need of 
a Counselor unbiased by private interests who will inspire him 
with moral courage." 

Unfortunately M. de Vaudreuil made the serious mistake of 
giving his confidence only to charlatans and knaves. Pean, Lot- 
biniere, Le Mercier, disreputable and unenlightened individuals, 
were his favorite counselors. His plans for the campaign were 
suggested by their interests while often Montcalm only learned 
the intentions of the Governor from common rumor, or was con- 
sulted merely to ward off some immediate clanger. These sinister 
counselors were aware M. de Vaudreuil viewed with regret the 
coming to Canada of a General of the regular army; they en- 
couraged his propensity to favor the Canadians, his compatriots, 
in all things and everywhere, to the detriment of the French 
battalions; they skilfully nourished his jealousy of the brilliant 
officer, who overwhelmed his weakness with the superiority of 
genius ; moreover, they employed every means to conceal from 
Montcalm the condition of the Colony, its needs, its resources, 
and to reduce him to an inefficient and mortifying position. 

Though they heaped humiliations upon him, nevertheless 
Montcalm many times endeavored to make his voice heard. M. 
Doreil wrote to the Minister of War, October 22, 1/57, 
"... nothing escapes his foresight and his zeal, but what can 
he do, or can I ? Make reports to which they are always antag- 
onistic and which are hardly ever considered." 

Tired of the conflict, Montcalm had come to the point of desir- 
ing his recall, "from a country where the commander in chief 
seems only intent upon belittling the share of the regulars and 
myself in any success and blaming us for any events which prove 
unfortunate." 

One of his first letters, addressed to M. de Cremilles, Lieu- 
tenant General attached to the Ministry of War by Marshal de 
Belle-Isle, after recommendations in favor of his officers, con- 
tains the expression of his desire to be recalled to Europe : 



16 MONTCALM 

"What I have most at heart is that the favors I propose for 
the troops serving under my orders should be granted. ... I 
should be very glad to be recalled ; that is the greatest favor to be 
accorded me and my only ambition." 

Awaiting a favorable opportunity to place frankly before the 
Minister of War himself the question of his return to France, 
Montcalm had too exalted an opinion of his duty as a soldier not 
to devote himself without reserve to the defence of Canada. 
More than anvone else, he felt the importance of preserving for 
the King this beautiful Colony, so rich in its soil, its lakes, its 
forests, of which the 80,000 inhabitants showed a sincere attach- 
ment to the mother country. "What a Colony! Such a people as 
one would wish for ! What a career is there offered to a Col- 
bert !" he wrote to the Minister of the Navy, the nth July 1757. 
". . . They all have a foundation of intelligence and courage, 
but up to this time nothing has given life to this body, nor served 
to develop the seeds which exist." 

The Canadians were born soldiers. From the age of sixteen 
years, thev were registered on the rolls of the militia. Boatmen 
and good shots, hunters inured to fatigue, they excelled in sudden 
attacks, in forest war and ambushes. Vaudreuil, always prone 
to praise their services and to attribute to them the success of all 
our enterprises, too often forgot that the war in Canada had as- 
sumed a different character from the impromptu expeditions of 
the past, accomplished in a few days, where a handful of Canadi- 
ans and savages were sufficient to put the English to rout. The 
operations in the New World now compared with those of the 
wars of Europe, in the importance of the effectives and of the 
artillery engaged, and by the methodical proceedings of the sieges 
and the defence of strongholds. These campaigns necessitated 
operations continuing through many months, to fight in regular 
formation, to pass from the offensive to the defensive, to give 
proof of unremitting patience, of "that firm courage," as it used 
to be called, which the Canadians were far from possessing to the 
same degree as the regulars. Unfortunately abuses slipped into 
the management of the militia and prevented the Colony from de- 
riving all the advantages that it had the right to expect from its 



rr e- 










. 



■ . • .', 



MARQUIS DE VAUDREUIL 

Governor-General of Canada. The first fort at Ticonderoga was 
named after him 



18 MONTCALM 

services. Without counting the men necessary for the indispen- 
sable cultivation of the crops, who had to be left in their parishes, 
or sent back at harvest time, a large number of militiamen were 
to be found serving elsewhere than in the army. Montcalm shows 
clearly in his journal the reason of the small number of militiamen 
in the army: "Primarily, they summon a certain number of the 
best kind of the inhabitants to go to war. They register them on 
the rolls ; they equip them appropriately. When they are ready to 
start, they offer them the choice either to hire themselves at a 
contemptible wage to go to the Western sea, to the Bay, ere, or 
to 'march to the firing line.' That is the expression which is 
used here and one finds it very expressive. Their choice is 
neither delayed nor doubtful. They hired for the trades and 
it is reported they are at the War; the rolls confirm it. 

"Secondly, the Commissary of Stores has need of people, 
and in great numbers even, for his transports. Instead of having 
calculated the number necessary, of having withdrawn them from 
the militia force as a whole and enlisted them for the campaign, 
they summon the militiamen for the war; they put them on the 
rolls of the army ; then they exempt them from service, on con- 
dition they will make two or three voyages gratis for the Com- 
missary. Hence it follows the army seems numerous and in it 
march actually only the worst type of men, leaving the parishes 
crippled." 

If it were difficult to assemble an army of 3,000 militiamen and 
to hold them during all the course of a campaign, the savages 
were also auxiliaries upon whom it was impossible to reckon in 
operations of a long duration. At the first skirmish, at the first 
scalp fallen to their tomahawk, they often spoke of returning to 
their wigwams. One was obliged to use patience with them, to 
face their tedious councils, to retain them with presents and 
flattering words, because these inconvenient allies were a precious 
help, even indispensable, serving as guides and scouts, preventing 
ambushes, in this country covered with forests and unexplored. 
From the beginning, Montcalm had been able to understand the 
capricious personality of these nations ruled by impulse and 
having a language full of imagery and poetry. He quickly 



MONTCALM A^D HIS SOLDIERS 19 

familiarized himself with their manners and customs, adopted 
their speech and produced such a dee'p impression on their warriors 
they believed in listening to him they heard the Manitou of battle. 
Assured of the confidence of the Canadians and of the savages, 
the French General felt justified in writing to the Minister of War, 
the 17th September 1757: "To the former, when I travel, or in 
the Camps, I have the appearance of a tribune of the people. The 
latter have been drawn to me by my successes, which any other 
might have won ; a considerable knowledge of the habits of the 
savages and the consideration I have shown them." Montcalm 
had more reason to depend on the marines in Canada, comprising 
forty Free companies. These companies numbered only thirty at 
the opening of 1756, but a royal warrant, of the 14th March 1756, 
ordered the number to be increased to forty, a thing made possible 
by the arrival of 1,100 recruits, from whom M. de Vaudreuil 
subtracted 750 men for the marines. Complete, each company 
should number 65 men, but in several this figure was not reached. 
One might be justified in computing the effective of the marines 
at the beginning of 1758 at 2,200 men. Of great courage, these 
Free companies, without any permanent ties to one another, gave 
precedence in discipline and cohesion only to the battalions of 
regulars. 

These last comprised eight battalions belonging to the second 
battalions of the regiments of Guyenne, Beam, Languedoc, the 
Queen, La Sarre and Royal-Roussillon and to the second and third 
battalions of the Berry regiment. Of these battalions the four first 
disembarked in Canada in 1755, La Sarre and Royal-Roussillon 
in 1756, Berry in 1757. Never was a finer spirit shown by any 
troops than by these battalions on leaving France, and yet Count 
d'Argenson, Minister of War, had not learned without grave 
solicitude the decision made by Louis XV, in the beginning of 
1755, to senc l troops of his department to Canada. It was the 
first time such a considerable body of troops had been detached 
from the regular army for the defence of distant colonies : to the 
four battalions of Guyenne, Beam, Languedoc and the Queen, 
destined particularly to New France, were joined also two bat- 



20 MONTCALM 

talions of Artois and of Bourgogne, called to the defence of 
Louisburg, the capital of lie-Royal. 

In confiding to M. de Cremilles, Lieutenant General, the re- 
sponsibility of supervising the embarkation of these battalions 
at Brest, d'Argenson had authorized him to supply the number of 
men who might be wanting to complete the companies with 
volunteers from the first battalion of each regiment. Fearing 
even the numbers of these volunteers might not be sufficient, 
d'Argenson had determined, if necessary, to complete the com- 
panies embarked with the men of two battalions of the militia 
of Bretag'ne (those of Vannes and of Carhaix) placed at the 
disposal of M. de Cremilles. Following the example of the 
Minister, this general officer expected to have to fulfil a most dis- 
agreeable duty. Great was his surprise to witness the enthusiasm 
shown, the 4th April 1755, by the soldiers of the battalion of 
Guyenne, the first called upon to embark. All the officers and 
soldiers not only showed "much gaiety and an admirable spirit," 
but, when M. de Cremilles wished to fill out their ranks with 
soldiers taken from the first battalion, more than three quarters 
of this battalion asked also "to be permitted to embark, from 
which it appears, there is not one soldier who does not march of 
his own free will and who has not offered himself.'' Three cap- 
tains, whose plausible reasons for not following their companies 
were accepted, had been immediately replaced by three officers 
who volunteered. 

Two days afterwards, at the embarkation of the second bat- 
talion of Languedoc, M. de Cremilles was wholly occupied in de- 
ciding the contests amongst the soldiers of the first battalion "who 
pressed forward in crowds to join their comrades." On the 8th 
A-pril, the turn of the battalion of Beam came. Some one had 
reported this regiment to the Minister as having shown little en- 
thusiasm. M. de Cremilles hastened to deny these false rumors. 
"Without exception all answered the roll call," he wrote the same 
day to the Minister of War, "and there was no other precaution to 
be taken, but to prevent the absolute annihilation of the battalion 
which is not going by the total absorption of its soldiers. Al- 
though, your Lordship, the men so far embarked are fine and good, 




• • V, y ,\ 



.OUIS,X\ 



LOUIS XV OF FRANCE 



22 MONTCALM 

one must acknowledge the 2nd battalion of Beam surpasses the 
others by their fine appearance and the height of the men, as well 
as by the way they are clothed and equipped." 

Finally, following the example of the battalions of Bourgogne 
and of Artois, the battalion of the Queen embarked the last, the 
14th April 1755, "with every demonstration of the greatest joy 
and the most decided enthusiasm." Far from having to make 
any appeal to the militiamen of the battalions of Vannes and of 
Carhaix, M. de Cremilles had been witness of a zeal and ardor 
which rendered his task as easy as it was agreeable. Nor did he 
spare his praise of the enthusiasm of the entire force embarked. 
"There are actually on the vessels of the King, six battalions fully 
complete in officers and men, amongst whom I do not believe 
there is one who is not determined to sacrifice his life to maintain 
the glory and the interests of his master. How pleasing it is for 
me, your Lordship, to have been the witness and instrument which 
you have deigned to make use of for the fulfilment of an event 
which will be forever an infinite honor to the French nation. ..." 

Starting with an effective force of 525 men (a company of 
grenadiers of 45 men, twelve companies of fusileers of 40 men) 
the battalions of the Queen, of Languedoc, Beam and Guyenne, 
disembarked at Quebec at the end of June 1755. They lost 33 
from deaths on the voyage, and two more on arriving at Quebec. 
Besides, two ships transporting the companv of the grenadiers and 
three companies of fusileers of each of the battalions of Langue- 
doc and of the Queen, had been captured, the 8th June 1755, by 
the fleet of Admiral Boscawen, so that the complement of the four 
battalions, the 25th July 1755, comprised only 118 officers or 
such like, 1,734 sergeants, grenadiers and fusileers to whom 
should be added 135 servants, women and children. 

In Canada the enthusiasm of our soldiers did not cool in the 
least. M. de Malartic, the Adjutant of the Beam regiment, the 
6th October 1755, stated "the soldier had the same spirit that 
he had at Brest." His evidence was confirmed, the 28th October 
1755, by the Commissary of War, Doreil, who wrote to the 
Minister of War: "The troops are in the best of spirits; they en- 
dure with infinite firmness and zeal the hardships and fatigues 



MONTCALM AND HIS SOLDIERS 23 

to which they have been constantly exposed since their ar- 
rival. ..." 

An actual proof of this excellent spirit is shown in the fact 
that at the end of October 1755 no soldier had yet placed himself 
in the position requiring his appearance before a court-martial and 
that during the first two years of their sojourn in Canada only one 
man was convicted by a military tribunal. The Governor, M. de 
Vaudreuil, joined also in rendering "very favorable testimony as 
regards the conduct of the battalions of the Queen, of Languedoc, 
Guvenne and Beam," having written to this effect to the Minister 
of War, the 8th June 1756. 

As the war in America each day grew in importance and as 
the regulars had lost their commander, Baron de Dieskau, cap- 
tured by the English, the court of Versailles caused to be em- 
barked with Montcalm, during the month of March 1756, the 
second battalions of the regiments of La Sarre and Royal-Rous- 
sillon. On their arrival at Brest was witnessed a renewal of the 
enthusiasm and emulation which distinguished the departure of the 
first troops sent to Canada. The General, M. de Cursay, charged 
with completing these two battalions, advised d'Argenson, the 25 
March 1756: "The second battalion of the regiment of La Sarre 
embarked this morning. It displayed an excessive joy and, if 
there are soldiers over there who have equally good spirits, one 
may reckon on the most complete success. There was one officer 
who gave up his entire fortune to persuade another to retire and 
cede his place to go to America." Having assisted at the em- 
barkation of the battalion of La Sarre, Montcalm wrote himself 
to the Minister of War, the 24th March 1756: "One can add 
nothing to the willingness, the appearance of content and gaiety 
with which officer and man embarked." Two days later he made 
the same eulogy of the battalion of Royal-Roussillon "which has 
just embarked with great enthusiasm, as much on the part of the 
officers as of the soldiers. This regiment seemed fine to me, well 
supplied and well disciplined." 

Under Montcalm, from the beginning of their first campaign, 
the French battalions not only rivaled the Canadians in endurance 
of cold, of hardship and privations ; one saw them also devote 



24 MONTCALM 

themselves, outside of their operations against the enemy, after 
the example of the Roman Legions, "to various works of fortifica- 
tion and in making good roads, necessary in war time and useful 
in times of peace.'' Their General admirably epitomized, in these 
terms, the detailed services they rendered in the course of two 
campaigns: "It is of importance to the service of the King that 
expatriated troops should be well treated, particularly when they 
serve with so much zeal and lend themselves to everything : war, 
labor, stinted food, marches, expeditions in bearskins, winter de- 
tachments over the ice." 

During the course of the year 1757, new reinforcements ar- 
rived for Montcalm : the second and third battalions of the regi- 
ment of Berry, at first destined to India, on a footing of nine 
companies of 60 men to the battalion, embarked at Brest for 
Canada, in April 1757, numbering 59 officers, 1,033 sergeants, 
grenadiers and fusileers, and 26 servants. 

Eight companies, raised to replace the eight companies of 
the regiments of the Queen and of Languedoc, which were cap- 
tured in 1755, during the voyage of these regiments to America, 
left France a little later. 

The two battalions of Berry arrived at Quebec much exhausted 
by the voyage, after having left 91 sick at Louisburg and losing 
40 dead during the passage. They crowded the hospital at Quebec 
with more than 200 sick, of whom a great number expired, in 
spite of the devoted care by which they were surrounded. By 
the 1 6th September 1757, they were reduced to 822 men. 

The eight companies of recruits, assigned to the regiments 
of the Queen and of Languedoc also arrived much weakened, 
with a total of 255 men, so that the effective force of the regulars, 
on the 1 st October 1757, amounted only to 3,988 men. 

From the 1st November 1756 to the 1st October 1757, the 
regulars had acquired only 369 recruits arrived from France and 
7 recruits obtained in the Colony. Also, far from being able to 
conform to the warrant of 25th February 1757 which augmented 
by 10 men the companies of the six battalions of the Queen, La 
Sarre, Guyenne, Languedoc, Royal-Roussillon and Beam, 
Montcalm found himself obliged to carrv on these companies of 




Tuilished 0'epC?J.J.j&i, h JWalker, Ta/zrTwslcrMsw,Z<m<{c. 



WILLIAM PITT 

Prime Minister of England 



26 MONTCALM 

those regiments with an average of 39 men, instead of attaining 
the number of 50 men. 

The recruits who came from France in 1757 were the "collec- 
tion of a bad lot." The eight companies divided between the 
regiments of the Queen and of Languedoc comprised in their 
ranks various rotten elements. Montcalm, to whom the main- 
tenance of discipline was the first consideration, did not hesitate 
to make numerous examples. During the winter of 1757 to 1758, 
he caused to be convicted "by ordinary form of law, or by a 
court-martial, sixteen soldiers of our battalions. Three of them 
were executed for desertion, two condemned to the Galleys 
for mutiny against their sergeants and the rest for thieving." 

Owing to these severe punishments, as well as the preponder- 
ance of the good seed to that of the spoiled, discipline, momentarily 
relaxed, was reestablished. On the other hand, Montcalm could 
congratulate himself on the understanding which existed between 
his soldiers and the Canadians and the savages. Thev are "like 
brothers" with them, he wrote to the Minister of War, the 18th 
September 1757. "Our troops," he wrote again in a letter, dated 
the 1 8th of April 1758, "live in perfect union with the Canadians 
and the savages." Our soldiers, very well treated, employ them- 
selves in highly remunerative works, and had "so to speak, too 
much money." The majority, billeted during the winter amongst 
the country people, lived in perfect accord with their hosts. In 
those immense spaces, they breathed an air of independence and 
of liberty and became more and more attached each day to that 
marvellous country of which they felt the captivating charm. 
Guided by views full of wisdom, desirous of working for the 
prosperity of the Colony, Montcalm encouraged the marriage of 
his soldiers with the Canadian women. Eighty marriages took 
place during the winter of 1756 to 1757, while during the 
preceding winter one could have counted only seven. Montcalm 
even demanded of the Minister of War, when His Majesty should 
come to withdraw his troops from Canada, that Efe should give 
"a small bounty to each of His soldiers who then might wish to 
settle and get married. We would leave the majority : they would 
make excellent colonists, brave defenders of New France; and, 



MONTCALM AND HIS SOLDIERS 



-/ 



should they return to the kingdom, a severe discipline and less 
pay would seem to them intolerable." 

The number of marriages increased again during the winter 
of 1757 to 1758, and Montcalm, a clever economist, favored by 
every means in his power this transplantation of our soldiers in 
Canada. "They seem to take a liking to a sojourn in this 
Colony," he wrote to the Minister of War, the 18th April 1758. 
"Many marriages continue to be made. Several, without marry- 
ing, have this winter acquired land to cultivate and without 
exempting them from military service, I lend myself willingly to 
all the arrangements which the political interest of the Colony 
demands. We could not leave here too many soldiers of our 
battalions. We should bring them back a scourge to Europe, 
and we could leave them a benefit to America." 

The captains of the eight French battalions had been given 
commissions of Lieutenant Colonel on their departure from 
France, except those of the 3rd battalion of Berry. These officers 
had performed long and faithful services. M. de Roquemaure, 
the eldest, had his commission as ensign dating from 1723. Full 
of zeal, performing his duty with distinction, Montcalm es- 
teemed him. The French General considered the Lieutenant 
Colonel of La Sarre battalion, M. de Senezergues, as unparalleled. 
He appraised him as "a meritorious officer who might aspire to 
anything and is qualified to be advanced in rank." M. de Senez- 
ergues knew how to gain the affection of his subordinates while 
always preserving amongst them the strictest discipline. 

Of the Chevalier de Bernetz, Lieutenant Colonel in command 
of the Royal-Roussillon, Montcalm said : "With courage worthy 
of his extraction, this officer is very intelligent and well placed 
at the head of a corps." The French battalions had also the 
advantage of having Adjutants of great experience and expert 
in infantry tactics. Montcalm could not exhaust his commen- 
dations of rJhe cleverness of M. de la Pause, Adjutant of the 
regiment of Guyenne and of M. de Malartic, Adjutant of the regi- 
ment of Beam. They are "two officers of the greatest distinc- 
tion," two officers "of the highest order," he does not cease to 
repeat in his letters to the Minister of War. He describes M. de 



28 MONTCALM 

la Pause as an officer "admirable in details," one who conceives 
"the various operations of the war largely. He understands the 
principle of superior tactics and has much knowledge of fortifica- 
tion : he is one to find employment on his return on the General 
Staff of the Army." He goes even to the extreme of calling him 
"a divine man." M. d'Hert, surnamed Bras de fer, Adjutant 
of the Queen, was also "very good." M. de Joannes of the 
Languedoc, M. de Bellecombe of the Royal-Roussillon, filled with 
equal distinction the duties of this rank. 

All the grenadier captains were of rare merit and of proved 
courage. Let it suffice to mention M. de Poulharies, Captain of 
grenadiers in the Royal-Roussillon, whom Montcalm described 
as "an officer of the highest distinction fit to be at the head of a 
corps," and M. d'Alguier, of the battalion of Beam, "the senior 
of all those who are here and perhaps of all those remaining in 
France." Since 1756, he had been recommended by Montcalm 
for a pension. "Long service, without other means of support 
and having suffered a severe wound at the attack of Assiette," 
he wrote to the Minister of War, "seem to me to justify his claim 
to obtain it." 

Amongst the ordinary Captains were to be found many with 
high qualifications, beginning with M. d'Hebecourt, of the regi- 
ment of the Queen, "qualified to rise above mediocrity and who 
might, continuing his service, hope for promotion owing to his 
industry and his talents;" Captain Germain of the same regiment, 
often serving as an Engineer; Captain Pouchot, of the regiment 
of Beam, who built Fort Niagara, one of the strongest places of 
New France, and gained the affection of the savages of the 
country of the Highlands who surnamed him "the heart of good 
business;" M. Bernard, Captain in the same regiment, an officer 
"of the greatest willingness;" M. du Prat, Captain in the bat- 
talion of La Sarre, enlisted in the ranks in 1736 and "one of the 
few for the remainder of their life devoted to the service;" be- 
sides many others, to whom the names of two partisan officers 
must be added, Lieutenant Wolfe, ex-sergeant of the regiment 
of Anhalt and Lieutenant Carpentier, ex-sergeant of the regiment 
of Piemont, both made officers "for distinguished services" be- 




MICHEL CHARTIER, MARQUIS DE LOTBINIERE 
Planned Fort Ticonderoga 



30 MONTCALM 

fore going to Canada, where they continued to deserve the greatest 
praise. 

At the head of the undertakings of the Engineers was M. de 
Pontleroy, Senior Captain, appointed in 1757 Engineer in chief 
of New France and remarkable as much for his ability as for 
his integrity. On arriving at Quebec, M. de Pontleroy had en- 
ergetically refused to dip into the embezzlements of the Lotbini- 
eres and the Le Merciers, They endeavored also to detain in that 
city the man whose strict honesty interfered with the plans of so 
many rogues. Nevertheless, in consequence of Montcalm's re- 
peated demands, M. de Pontleroy managed to take part in the 
campaign of 1758, where his services proved to be most useful. 
This Engineer was admirably aided by M. Desandrouins, Junior 
Captain, who had directed with success the siege works at Choua- 
guen, in 1756, and at William Henry, in 1757. M. Desandrouins 
united also to the most perfect integrity a complete knowledge 
of all branches of the art of fortification. The artillerv consisted 
of two companies of 50 gunners. Leaving out Le Mercier, ab- 
sorbed more by his own interests than the welfare of the Colony, 
Montcalm could count upon several officers sent out from France, 
amongst others MM. de Montbeillard, Captain, and de Louvi- 
court, Lieutenant, who by their knowledge, their modesty, and 
incessant labor, substantiated the glorious traditions of which the 
Royal Corps had at this period a just claim to be proud. 

Among the officers of the personal staff of Montcalm, his 
three aides-de-camp deserve to receive attention. 

The best known is M. de Bougainville. Marvelously gifted 
in the sciences, he had already written at twenty years of age, in 
1 75 1, the first volume of his Treatise on integral calculus which 
procured him the advantage of admission, in 1756, to the Royal 
Society of London. Lieutenant in the dragoon regiment d'Ap- 
chon, in February 1755, Bougainville owed his transfer to Amer- 
ica with the rank of Captain upon half -pay, to the recommenda- 
tions of Chevert and M. de Sechilles. Montcalm was not slow in 
yielding to the charm of the conversation of his young aide-de- 
camp, of his sense and justice, of his enthusiasm in seeking 
knowledge. After his first campaign in Canada, he drew this 



MONTCALM AND HIS SOLDIERS 31 

flattering picture of him : "You could hardly believe the resources 
I find in him. He is well qualified to hold his own. He goes for- 
ward willingly to meet gunfire, a matter wherein it is more needful 
to restrain him than to urge him on. Either I shall be very much 
mistaken, or he will have a good military head, when experience 
shall have given him a glimpse of the possibility of difficulties. 
Meanwhile there is no other young man at present who, versed 
only theoretically, knows as much as he does." The following 
year, Montcalm requested a commission of Quartermaster Gen- 
eral for the young officer upon whom he depended more and more 
each day and whom he was to employ later on the important 
mission to advise Versailles of the real situation in Canada. 

Another Cavalry officer, M. de Rochebeaucourt, also serving 
with a commission of Captain upon half-pay fulfilled the duties 
of second aide-de-camp to Montcalm. Such was his willingness, 
he was always ready to march as a volunteer upon the most peri- 
lous expeditions. During the campaign of 1759, Montcalm com- 
mitted to him the responsibilitv of training 200 volunteer cavalrv- 
men, who, under his able command, were able to serve the army 
usefully. 

The third aide-de-camp, Marcel, of a more obscure origin, 
for a long time a soldier and a sergeant in the regiment of Flan- 
ders, had only the commission of Lieutenant upon half-pav in 
the regiment of the Queen. He served as secretary to Montcalm, 
never left him and acknowledged, by an unlimited devotion, the 
kindness of his General to whom he owed all his advancement. 

The Major General of the small expeditionarv corps was the 
Chevalier de Montreuil. The responsibility was a little heavy for 
his shoulders; it required a constant activity which perhaps the 
incumbent did not exercise, but this officer was the model of 
honor, of courage and of zeal, and Montcalm took many occasions 
to show his appreciation of his fine qualities. 

Finally the two officers who directly supported the French 
General in the command of our eight battalions, M. de Bourla- 
maque, as a Colonel, and M. de Levis, as a Brigadier, were en- 
tirely worthy of his confidence. 

M. de Levis had served a long time in the old regiment of 



32 MONTCALAI 

the marines, gaining the esteem of Montcalm, who often fought 
by his side, in Bohemia and in Italy. He had also, in 1747, ful- 
filled the duties of Adjutant General, under Marshal de Belle- 
Isle, winning the applause of the army of Provence. A soldier of 
wide experience and coolness, accurate and deliberate in action, 
M. de Levis was not long in gaining the respect of the Canadians 
and of the savages in the same way he won that of his chief, who 
said of him in a letter to the Minister of War, dated November 
1, 1756: "M. de Levis has taken very well with the troops. He 
has a soldierly manner, the habit of command. He is never at 
a loss. He knows how to lead, to be discreet in disregarding 
orders given from a distance of 60 leagues, when he believes them 
ill-advised owing to circumstances which an absent General could 
not have anticipated." 

To the Minister of the Navy, M. de Moras, Montcalm wrote, 
the nth July 1757: "I could not have a better second." 

M. de Bourlamaque, son of a Captain of grenadiers, of the 
regiment of the Dauphin, killed at the battle of Parma, entered 
this regiment as a volunteer in 1739. Adjutant in 1745, com- 
missioned Captain the same year, he attracted the attention of 
Lieutenant General, the Marquis de Breze, who remarked in 
October 1753 : "He was well acquainted with this officer prior to 
the encampment under his command last year, but he did not know 
his full worth; he had never met any better general officer." The 
talents of M. de Bourlamaque designated him in 1755 to assist 
in revising the regulations for infantry drill. Chevert and the 
Count de Maillebois soon recommended d'Argenson to send him 
to Canada and the course of events showed how fortunate this 
selection was. 

In March 1756, commissioned Colonel, M. de Bourlamaque 
had been received with a certain mistrust by Montcalm, to whom 
he was quite unknown and whom he had at first considered 
towards the end of 1756, as "not yet having the habit of com- 
mand, too devoted to details, too letter bound with orders given 
by a General from a distance of 80 leagues; one who does not 
speak the language of war." 

The campaign of 1757 completely dissipated these prejudices 




Chrde Mahhe V/<- h> i>. ./"' 1/40. 
Depute des Bailie* de Calais et Ardres, 

dc > 1/ty. 




VICOMTE DES ANDROUINS 

Planned the Abatis at Ticonderoga and took part in the action, 
July 8, 1758 



34 MONTCALM 

of Montcalm, who corrected his first impressions and addressed 
to the Minister these noble sentiments : "M. le chevilier de Levis 
and M. de Bourlamaque are able seconds in command. The 
former, indefatigable, courageous, of good soldierly habits. The 
latter, a man of intelligence, of grasp; after the winter and this 
campaign he gains immensely in the opinion of everybody. I 
much desire their promotion, but for me to speak of it would seem 
to be speaking of my own. . . . Anyway, whether I am made 
a Lieutenant General or not, there will be the same zeal in the 
service, the same regard for my Minister, and no consideration as 
regards me should ever interfere with the promotion of the su- 
perior officers who are under my command." 



CHAPTER II 
Before the Battle of Carillon 

In those times, the rivers and lakes were, so to speak, the 
only available roads for the armies in Canada. A line of water, 
almost wholly navigable, offered the means of access from the 
English colonies to the heart of New France. From New York 
to Montreal, a distance of less than 150 leagues, this line is 
indicated by the Hudson river, the lakes Saint Sacrement and 
Champlain and the river Richelieu. This natural means of 
communication requires only three short carries, or transport of 
boats on the backs of men or animals : one, of some leagues, from 
the English fort Lydius, on the Hudson river, to the southern 
shore of lake Saint Sacrement; another, of only little more than a 
league, from the northern point of that lake to the French fort 
of Carillon. This latter carry becomes necessary to avoid a bend 
blocked with rapids in the river by which the lake Saint Sacrement 
flows into lake Champlain, and which the French have named 
"riviere de la Chute" (river of the Fall). From lake Champlain 
to the confluence of Richelieu river into the Saint Lawrence, 
navigation is only interrupted for a moment at Chambly. Natu- 
rally the French and English encountered each other on this direct 
path of invasion and on these undefined frontiers. The English 
had built a fort to the south of lake Saint Sacrement, which they 
named William Henry, and the French, fort George. It was cap- 
tured by Montcalm during the campaign of 1757 and destroyed 
so effectively that the most advanced English post was carried 
back to fort Lydius, or Edward, on the Hudson, some leagues 
to the south of lake Saint Sacrement. 

To bar the road to Montreal to their enemies, the French 
had as defences : in the first line, at the confluence of the river of 
the Fall into lake Champlain, a fort which they named Carillon 

35 



36 MONTCALM 

and which the English called Ticonderoga. A little lower down, 
at the narrowing of lake Champlain and on the left bank of the 
lake, stands fort Saint Frederick. From Carillon to Saint Freder- 
ick the lake is so narrow that it is called the Saint Frederick river 
by the French. Finally these latter had besides, on the Richelieu 
river, covering the immediate approaches to Montreal, two forti- 
fied posts at Saint Jean and Chambly. 

Of these works, Carillon, the most important, alone deserves 
the name of fort. Moreover it was far from being finished and 
showed serious defects, as one might expect knowing that its 
construction had been the enterprise and under the direction for 
three years of M. de Lotbiniere, as little versed in the practice of 
his art, as clever in finding, in the prolongation of the works 
of fortification, a thousand ways of enriching himself at the 
expense of the King. 

Carillon is built on a peninsula, on the rocky point of a spur 
commanding three bays : the mouth of lake Saint Sacrement to 
the west ; the source of lake Champlain, or the Saint Frederick 
river to the east and finally a third bay to the south, that of the 
Two Rocks, leading to the river the French call "riviere aux 
Chicots." The spur, which terminates at the fort, gradually ex- 
panding, extends to the interior of the peninsula : its base 500 
fathoms from the fort spreads to a wooded plateau 250 fathoms 
in extent. It comes close in, with its abrupt slopes to the West, 
to the river of the Fall, from which it is separated in many places 
by less than 100 fathoms. On the opposite east side its slope, a 
little less abrupt, runs at a distance of about 300 fathoms along 
the Saint Frederick river. 

The work was rectangular, the angles being bastioned : the 
long sides measured only 54 fathoms, the short sides, 29 fathoms. 
It could not hold more than 300 men at the most. "Its walls are 
made of squared oak timbers placed one upon another, bound 
together by cross beams mortised solidly. It is loopholed through- 
out." Two half moons, hardly begun, cover the most exposed 
fronts, and mask, with their too lofty parapet, the fire from the 
embrasures of the main work. There were "no moats or counter- 
scarps, covered way, nor glacis." The gun emplacements for the 




Commandeur de S . Louis _ Goav? de lUede France 
L7SO - lfiOi) 

tffi] ii I II !! n I ii run 1 1 n i m mi iiiiiniiiramimfflWTTeiriiinmmraTiTn:! inn 



ANNE JOSEPH HIPPOLYTE 
VICOMTE DE MAURES DE MALARTIC 



Wounded at Ticonderoga, July, 1758 



38 MONTCALM 

artillery are too narrow and so stupidly placed, those besieged 
could bring to bear only two pieces opposed to the whole battery 
of the besiegers. The roofs of the stone buildings, two stories 
high, built in the centre of the enclosure of the fort, tower above 
the ramparts. Bombs and bullets would cause such ravages, 
from splinters of wood and masonry, as to render both the enclo- 
sure and the ramparts untenable. The powder magazine is damp, 
the cistern fed by muddy and unhealthy water. In short, the 
defects of this work were so serious, M. de Pontleroy, Chief En- 
gineer of New France, considering the hypothesis wherein he 
would be called upon to conduct a siege of it, would "require only 
four to six mortars and two cannon." 

The English, without doubt, well knew this fort was "very 
little able to make a defence." They were informed of the critical 
situation of the Colony, menaced by famine. They also enter- 
tained the hope that Montcalm, reduced to impotence from the 
want of provisions, would be unable to meet them with an army, 
until after they had captured Carillon and invaded Canada 
through lake Champlain. 

The Canadians were not soon to forget the gloomy days of 
the winter of 1 757-1 758. Already in the month of July 1757, 
the people of Quebec saw themselves reduced to four ounces of 
bread a day. On the 18th September 1757 Montcalm reported 
to M. de Paulmy : "Provisions fail. The people reduced to a 
quarter of a pound of bread. Perhaps the ration of the soldier 
must be reduced again. Little powder. No shoes." In picturing 
the sad situation of Canada, in the throes of famine, he pointed 
out the culpable action of the Quartermaster and his Association, 
who were more intent on forwarding wine and brandy than 
wheat ; "there is more profit in the former than in the latter . . . 
Let us cover this matter with a thick veil : it perhaps would interest 
the leading spirits here." 

For the winter quarters, the eight French battalions had been 
equally divided in the governments of Quebec and Montreal : the 
Queen, Languedoc and Berry, in the former ; Beam, La Sarre and 
Royal-Roussillon, in the latter. Except the Queen battalion, in 
barracks at Quebec, and seven companies of Beam, billeted on the 



BEFORE THE BATTLE OF CARILLON 39 

residents of Montreal, the men were dispersed throughout the 
country, thus more easily providing for their subsistence. 

On the 1st November 1757, it became necessary to reduce 
the soldiers' ration to a half pound of bread and a quarter pound 
of peas a day, to 6 pounds of beef and 2 pounds of codfish a 
week. Even so, at the beginning of December, M. de Vaudreuil, 
in accord with Montcalm, was obliged to have recourse to horse 
meat and to modify the soldiers' ration, which thereafter com- 
prised, for eight days, 4 pounds of bread, 2 pounds of peas, 3 
pounds of beef, 3 pounds of horse meat and 2 pounds of codfish. 

These various reductions were accepted without a murmur at 
Quebec, where the soldier was in barracks and lived under the 
eyes of their commanders, Montcalm himself giving the example 
of a frugal table, served with the same provisions as the garrison. 
At Montreal, where the soldier was billeted with the inhabitants 
and where the people showed a great repugnance to horse meat 
as a food and incited the troops to make the same complaint, there 
arose "certain difficulties" which were speedily suppressed by the 
firmness of M. de Levis. On the 9th of December 1757, being in- 
formed the soldiers and even the grenadiers of Beam refused to 
accept horse meat at the distribution of provisions, Chevalier de 
Levis appeared in person, assembled the grenadiers and the 
soldiers and addressed them. He depicted to them the misery 
of the Colony, the unhappv lot of the inhabitants of Quebec, since 
several months reduced to a quarter of a pound of bread; the la- 
mentable distress of 2,000 Acadians, refugees in Canada, who 
lived only on horse meat and dried codfish, without a morsel of 
bread. He represented to them they should consider themselves 
in Canada as in a besieged place, where it was necessary to 
economize the provisions, appealing to their sentiments of honor 
and of discipline and succeeded in calming their minds. No 
further complaint of the reduction of provisions was made there- 
after, and the "day of the Kings" 1758, eight grenadiers of the 
regiment of Beam carried to Chevalier de Levis a dish of horse 
meat cooked after their fashion, which proved very good. 
Chevalier de Levis made these grenadiers breakfast with him 
and gave them wine and two dishes of horse meat prepared by his 



40 MONTCALM 

own cooks, which they found less palatable than their own. He 
gave them also four louis, so that their company might celebrate 
"the Kings" and drink to his health. 

However sad might be the situation of the soldier, it was 
indeed a matter of envy in comparison with that of the Canadians 
and the Acadian refugees. Victims of their love of France, the 
latter succumbed in great numbers to the ravages of small-pox, 
engendered by their hardships. At Quebec the people perished 
"of hunger and misery. Reduced to 2 ounces of bread, they 
sustained themselves with a little beef ; there has been no slaughter- 
ing for fifteen davs," wrote M. Doreil, on the 16th May 1758. Al- 
though free from ice for several weeks, not a single vessel has 
arrived in the Saint Lawrence from France. "Under such dread- 
ful circumstances," consternation and despair invaded every heart. 
At the beginning of May 1758, the distress in the government of 
Quebec was at its climax and though M. de Vaudreuil possessed 
no resources to carry on a campaign, seeing that city and the 
neighboring parishes were so exhausted, the Governor found 
himself obliged, the 5th of May, to despatch an order to the 
regiment of the Queen to quit Quebec and march towards Caril- 
lon, "where there is a store of provisions of which only stern 
necessity excused the use with extreme economy." On the same 
day, M. de Bourlamaque was ordered to form squads, or de- 
tachments, of the soldiers of Languedoc, or of Berry, who were no 
longer able to subsist on the inhabitants, and despatch them with 
the officers to be furnished according to their number, to work 
on fort Saint-Jean, provided some provisions may be gathered ; 
or to pass them all to Carillon. 

At last, on the 19th of May, the first ships from France, 
so long and so impatiently awaited, anchored in the harbor of 
Quebec. A Royal frigate and eight merchant vessels, sailing 
from Bordeaux, soon followed by five other vessels, brought 
12,000 quarters of flour. 

Together with distressing reports, such as the defeat at 
Rosbach, our little army learned the consoling news of the 
appointment of Marshal de Belle-Isle as Minister of War. The 
Marshal, entirely devoted to the interests of his comrades in 




THE MARQUIS DE LEVIS 



The most distinguished officer with the French forces after the Marquis de 

Montcalm 



42 MONTCALM 

arms, enjoyed their esteem and their affection, and Montcalm 
made himself the echo of the feelings of the officers and 
soldiers, in writing to his late Commander, the 28th May 1758: 
'The troops confided to my command and myself have learned 
with the same satisfaction that the leading man of our military 
caste, who joins to the ability of a great General the qualities 
of a statesman and the virtues of a citizen, has been willing 
to undertake our Ministry." 

( hving to the assistance received from France, which brought 
temporary relief of the famine in Canada, the Marquis de 
Vaudreuil found himself in a position to undertake his campaign 
as planned. 

He had decided to divide his forces into two parts : one 
under Montcalm, the other under Chevalier de Levis. 

The former would be charged with the defence of the frontiers 
of Canada on lake Saint Sacrement and concentrate under his 
command the eight battalions of regulars, less 400 detached men, 
say about 3,000 men, who would be reinforced by 600 marines 
500 or 600 militia and some savages. 

Chevalier de Levis, together with M. de Rigaud de Vaudreuil, 
governor of Montreal, and M. de Longueuil, governor of Three 
Rivers, was appointed to command a corps of about 2,500 men, 
composed of the 400 detached men of the regulars, 400 marines, 
800 militia and a thousand savages. M. de Vaudreuil had the 
intention to entrust him with the triple mission to prevent the 
English from approaching the shores of lake Ontario by re- 
building the ruined fort of Chouaguen (Oswego); to compel 
the Five Nations of the Iroquois to take up the hatchet against 
the English; and to make a diversion, by the Mohawk Valley, 
as far as Corlar (or Schenectady) to the gates of Albany. 

Representatives of the Iroquois Five Nations had given M. 
de Vaudreuil the assurance they would openly declare themselves 
against the English, if their Nations were supported by our 
arms. Too credulous, the Governor of Canada at once put faith 
in their promise. In reality, these people, whose territories to 
the south of lake Ontario were constantly ravaged by the bel- 
ligerents, were making similar promises to the English at the 



BEFORE THE BATTLE OF CARILLON 43 

same time. Thev endeavored above all to remain neutral, to 
gain time, awaiting a decisive success of one or the other ad- 
versary to range themselves on the side of the victor. 

Following out this plan, M. de Yaudreuil, towards the end 
of May, ordered the eight battalion- of regulars to march on 
Carillon. 

The battalion of the Queen, obliged to leave Quebec the 
14th May, owing to the scarcity of provisions, had been halted 
for a short time at Chambly, where orders were received to 
proceed to Carillon, revictualling on the way at Saint-Jean, where 
thev had stored "for each soldier going up to Carillon subsistence 
for six days, which he would carry with him, to the extent of a 
pound of bread a day, one quarter of lard and the same quantity 
of peas for each ration." 

Languedoc and the two battalions of Berry, ordered to march 
by M. de Yaudreuil the 23rd of May. made but a short halt at 
Saint-Jean and, between the 15th and the 20th of June, rejoined 
the battalion of the Queen at Carillon. 

The four battalions distributed in the government of 
Montreal began to move, the Royal-Roussillon on the 16th of 
June, Guyenne and La Sarre on the 18th, and Beam the 20th. 
They remained in their quarters until the last moment "as much 
for the reason they were not consuming the rations of the King, 
as that they were within reach of Carillon in twelve days, in 
case they were needed."' 

The Royal-Roussillon arrived at Saint-Jean the 19th June, 
followed by Guyenne one day later. The two regiments pro- 
ceeded on the 2 1 st. 

The La Sarre arrived at Saint-Jean the 22nd June and con- 
tinued their march the 23rd, followed in two days by the Beam 
regiment. 

M. de Bourlamaque, who was ordered to command the troop- 
assembling at Carillon, until the arrival of Montcalm, left 
Montreal June 12th and arrived at his post the 15th. 

It was between the 20th and 25th of June, when Montcalm 
left Montreal, his departure preceding only by a few days that of 



44 MONTCALM 

Chevalier de Levis, who was going to the borders of lake Ontario 
to assemble his little expeditionary force. 

From June 19th, M. de Levis commanded at Montreal six 
selected pickets of regulars, about 384 men and 18 officers, of 
the regiments of La Sarre, Guyenne, Royal-Roussillon, Beam, 
Languedoc and Berry. The regiment of the Queen, established 
already since the beginning of June at Carillon, alone furnished 
no contingent. Volunteers offered themselves in crowds, officers 
as well as soldiers, to join this detachment, and M. de Levis 
had in M. de Senezergues, the Lieutenant Colonel assigned to him, 
an excellent second in command. 

During these movements of concentration, M. de Vaudreuil 
and Montcalm received at Montreal important news from Caril- 
lon. The partisan Wolfe, accompanied by thirty soldiers and 
six savages, surprised on the 17th June, on the banks of the 
river of the Fall, an English party, which they routed, making 
three prisoners, one of them an ensign of the 55th regiment of 
infantry. From these prisoners they learned the English planned 
to come to Carillon ; their commander, General Abercrombie, was 
at fort Lydius "with three regiments; those of Abercrombie, 
Murray and Lord Howe; the Highlanders, and five companies of 
forest rangers. The Blackney regiment was on its way. They 
were expecting that of Webb and the Royal American; besides 
12,000 militia; and they were going to make an entrenched camp 
at fort George, and camps to cover convoys and working parties 
and the constant traffic." 

These advices reached Montreal the 19th June, but did not 
have the effect of disturbing M. de Vaudreuil, who, engrossed in 
preparations for the expedition of M. de Levis, persuaded him- 
self the English could not have any offensive design upon the 
frontier of lake Saint Sacrement. From the very first, Montcalm 
had penetrated the real designs of the Governor. 

On the 30th May, he wrote to his friend M. de Bourlamaque : 
"The transport from Chambly very slow. I have often spoken 
of it and till now Vox Clamantis in descrto. After all, is one 
in a hurry? What does one want? Favoring an expedition in 
the Canadian manner, inter nos, without doubt for brother 




0*A 




LOUIS ANTOINE, COUNT DE BOUGAINVILLE 

Served under Montcalm. Wounded at Ticonderoga, July 8, 1758. 
Afterwards entered the French Navy and became an Admiral. 



46 MONTCALM 

Riga ud ; perhaps for Saint Luc, King of the savages. The people 
want M. le Chevalier de Levis, but I think myself there will be 
no French, or few." 

Not daring to give the command of this expedition to his 
brother, "that man living in the dark and led by the first comer," 
the Governor associated with him M. de Levis, upon whose ability 
he could confidently depend. He had also collected with care 
the detachments assigned to act under their orders : six selected 
pickets of regulars ; the finest companies of marines ; Canadians 
of the "best kind ;" Montrealists, superior in warlike qualities to 
the militia of the government of Quebec; finally a great majority 
of the savages who fought with us. Though the diversion 
planned by M. de Vaudreuil might have the happy result of 
obliging the English to confront it with part of their forces, it 
had the serious defect of weakening the small army of Montcalm 
in the principal theatre of operations, for it absorbed more than 
a third of the best troops of the Colony. Besides it had the 
disadvantage of delayed action, M. de Levis not being able to 
begin the movement until the earlv days of July. 

Montcalm was not able to leave Montreal until June 24th, 
having received the Memoranda containing the instructions of 
the Government only the day before. 

M. de Vaudreuil began by declaring he had "conferred with 
M. le Marquis de Montcalm on the actual situation in the Colony." 
Counting the eight battalions of regulars, 600 marines, 500 to 
600 militia and a train of artillery, he estimated at 5,000 men 
the forces placed at the disposition of his lieutenant. He charged 
him to make "as soon as he arrived such offensive demonstra- 
tions on this frontier of lake Saint Sacrement as the circum- 
stances, all things considered, would permit" and ingenuously 
concluded : these demonstrations, in connection with the diversion 
of M. de Levis through the Mohawk Valley, "could not but render 
the English incapable of acting offensively against either of these 
two parties." 

Then, after having suggested at the opening of his Memo- 
randum, that "independently of the siege of Louisburg, the Eng- 
lish had offensive views on the frontier of lake Saint Sacrement 



BEFORE THE BATTLE OF CARILLON 47 

and even on that of La Belle-Riviere," that "the part on the lake 
Saint Sacrement seems the most threatened," M. de Vaudreuil 
made an effort at the end of this same Memorandum to prove 
the English would not undertake any offensive movement in that 
part, and, while authorizing Montcalm to advance on the enemy 
and give battle, he placed many obstacles in the way of his liberty 
of action: "Supposing the English should come to lake Saint 
Sacrement where the former fort George was situated, their 
proceeding would be susceptible of two interpretations : in the 
first place, we have no reason to believe they have force enough 
for an offensive movement on this frontier, if it is true, as every- 
thing proclaims it to be, they are carrying on their expedition 
against Louisburg, at the same time as their movements towards 
Belle-Riviere and to rebuild Chouaguen : secondly, it is much 
more reasonable to suppose the enemy will undertake a bold dem- 
onstration of defence. . . . 

"If, contrary to all expectation, the enemy proceeds to lay 
siege to Carillon, it will be for M. de Montcalm to decide to 
advance to attack them on their march, or on the lake, or to 
await them in an entrenched camp, or such other position as he 
may judge most advantageous. We wish only to suggest he 
should not decide to advance to attack the enemy, unless convinced 
he has enough savages and Canadians to fight them successfully in 
the forest. M. le Marquis de Montcalm knows, however much 
we desire to maintain a large force of savages at Carillon, it 
happens they withdraw themselves after a forav; he will there- 
fore make every effort to persuade them to remain with him, but, 
if unsuccessful, he will confine himself to harassing the enemy 
for the purpose of delaying their march, exercising his judgment 
to avoid compromising himself by a general and decisive en- 
gagement." On reading this astonishing memorandum, Montcalm 
was unable to control his indignation and at once made it a 
point to refute its subtle and contradictory arguments by a mem- 
orandum which he enclosed with a letter wherein he urged M. 
de Vaudreuil to read over and modify his instructions, . . . 
"It is quite enough, under circumstances which may become so 
critical, that I should undertake to defend, as far as it is possible 



4 8 MONTCALM 

for me to do so, the frontier of lake Saint Sacrement with 4,000 
nun against very superior forces, without laying upon me the 
burden oi instructions of which the obscurity and contradictions 
would seem to render me responsible for events which may happen 
and which we ought to anticipate. I acknowledge the integrity 
of your intent, but I would not know how to start unless you 
should send me instructions with all the corrections necessary, 
as well as indispensable, to preserve the reputation of a general 
officer who has served for your personal glory with as much zeal 
as for the defence of the Colony.'' 

In the memorandum enclosed with this letter, Montcalm began 
by denying the statement of M. de Vaudreuil that he consulted 
with him on the situation in the Colony, since he never had any 
knowledge of his plans "except like the people generally, in a 
vague and indefinite way." He had no difficulty in making it 
clear that having only received 500 or 600 Canadians, instead 
of the 1,200 previously promised him, his little army would not 
exceed 4,000 men. He could not refrain from the expression of 
his astonishment that the Marquis de Vaudreuil should wish to 
conceal "from himself alone" the forces of the English in that 
region (the frontier of lake Saint Sacrement) : "The testimony 
of the prisoners is too conclusive and uniform, and M. le Marquis 
de Vaudreuil well knows, notwithstanding the expedition against 
Louisburg, the English have ten battalions of regular troops, rive 
companies of wood rangers between Orange and Lydius, and may 
easily be joined by a great body of militia." Finally and above 
all, Montcalm insisted that the Governor should modify the 
confusing instructions of the last part of his memorandum. 
"M. le Marquis de Vaudreuil seems to contradict himself ab- 
solutely in the most important article of his instructions. He 
begins by relying upon the Marquis de Montcalm to advance 
on the enemy to give him battle on his march, or on the lake 
and M. le Marquis de Vaudreuil adds in this same article, that 
he must not expose himself to a general or decisive action. M. 
le Marquis de Montcalm would not be able to start, unless M. le 
Marquis de Vaudreuil should entirely change this article of 
his instructions, or explain it clearly, because, if the Marquis de 




11 

Co 



u&ri<Wt en Chei' lej- Irouveslndiennes &U Services def 



America in.? 



MAJOR ROBERT ROGERS 
Commanded Rogers' Rangers in French and Indian Wars 



5 o MONTCALM 

Montcalm advances to the attack, there is the engagement and 
he violates the instructions of M. le Marquis de Vaudreuil. If 
he should wish to govern himself by the last part, he would be 
obliged to undertake certain measures which would depend upon 
circumstances and the time the enemy allowed, for an entrenched 
camp is not always easy to lay out, nor speedily made, and it would 
be still better to retire to Saint Frederick than to compromise and 
shut oneself up in an untenable post. ..." 

Yielding to the firm attitude of Montcalm, M. de Vaudreuil 
consented to sign new instructions, the rough draft having been 
drawn up by the General himself, which closed with these words: 
"We rely upon the devotion of M. le Marquis de Montcalm that 
he would be willing to accept the command of this corps, not- 
withstanding the critical situation in which he might be placed, 
owing to the very superior forces of the English. . . . Under 
these circumstances, M. de Montcalm should seek to be informed 
of the movements of the enemy, to harass him as much as possible, 
to obstruct his operations and to avoid a general engagement. 
We must depend on M. le Marquis de Montcalm to take such 
action as. is permitted by the small number of his troops, to which 
the scarcity of provisions has reduced the army we confide to 
him." After having succeeded in making the Marquis de 
Vaudreuil modify his instructions, Montcalm left Montreal on 
the 24th of June, at five o'clock in the evening, accompanied by 
M. de Pontleroy, Chief Engineer of New France. The 27th, 
he met on lake Champlain "Ignace, Chief of the Hurons of 
Lorette, despatched by M. de Bourlamaque to report to him the 
establishment of the enemy at the end of lake Saint Sacrement 
on the ruins of fort George." Several canoes soon followed the 
Huron Chief, manned by savages, who were conveving to Mon- 
treal some English prisoners captured on lake Saint Sacrement. 

These prisoners concurred in reporting the troops of General 
Abercrombie increased daily at fort Lydius and that in the English 
camp it was believed the French, owing to the famine, would 
not be able to assemble an army. Montcalm encountered also a 
convoy of boats transporting militiamen of the government of 
Montreal, who were returning to that city. "They are too 



BEFORE THE BATTLE OF CARILLON 51 

good to be left for our use, he writes ironically in his journal. 
They belong to the army of favoritism. . . . That chimerical 
expedition to Corlar (so called by the couriers) will perhaps 
be the cause of the loss of the Colony.'' With regret Montcalm 
observed that division of our feeble forces. It would have been 
better, according to him, "to advance at once on the enemy with 
the savages, the choicest of the Canadians, the regulars and 
colonial troops. They are not yet entrenched ; according to the 
report of the prisoners, they are persuaded the scarcity of pro- 
visions has placed us without means to concentrate an army ; they 
are less on their guard and concerned only in completing their 
works. A sudden attack would overthrow them and finish the 
campaign at this point. The Marquis de Vaudreuil could then 
undertake, either to send assistance to the Belle-Riviere or to 
carry on his intended negotiations with the Five Nations. But 
who knows whether a decisive success is desirable for this Colony, 
if a General of the regular army were to achieve it?" 

As has been said, the courier and the prisoners encountered 
by Montcalm on his journey had been despatched in all haste to 
M. de Vaudreuil by M. de Bourlamaque. Since his arrival at 
Carillon, the 15th of June, M. de Bourlamaque had given a 
vigorous impulse to the works at the fort, which M. de Lotbiniere 
directed, and he had especially endeavored to discover the plans 
of the English and their forces to the south of lake Saint 
Sacrement. 

For that purpose he had employed the partisan officer Wolfe, 
whom he ordered to embark with an escort on the lake, under 
the pretence of carrying to General Abercrombie letters from 
Marquis de Vaudreuil, concerning the return of two English 
officer prisoners, Lieutenant Colonel Schuyler and Captain 
Martin, who had been authorized to proceed to New York to 
attend to their affairs. As Lieutenant Wolfe, expected at Carillon 
on the 23rd June, did not return, M. de Bourlamaque wisely 
concluded the English held him in their camp to prevent his 
giving information of their preparations. He also decided to 
detach M. de Langy-Montegron, naval ensign, at the head of some 
sixty savages, with the mission to penetrate to the end of the 



5 _> MONTCALM 

lake, to take prisoners and reconnoitre the movements of the 
English. 

On the 25th June, M. de Langy returned from his reconnois- 
sance. He brought hack with him one officer and fifteen rangers, 
or coureurs des hois, captured on an island two leagues from the 
end of the lake, where he was able to observe important move- 
ments of troops and many boats. It was learned from these 
prisoners the English intended to march on Carillon "in fourteen 
days to the number of 25,000 men, of whom 6,500 and more were 
regular troops; that a corps of 7,000 men of this army, under 
the command of Lord Howe, would proceed by land, the re- 
mainder by water, by means of fifteen hundred boats and barges 
carrying from 25 to 30 men; that they awaited, from day to day, 
Colonel Johnson with 500 savages of the Five Nations. . . . " 

Such circumstantial reports did not admit any further doubt 
of the plan of an English offensive. The 29th of June, M. de 
Vaudreuil, yielding at last to the evidence, gave Chevalier de 
Levis orders to suspend his movement towards lake Ontario and 
to turn in all haste to Carillon the first troops of his detachment 
which were ready to march, that is to say, the pickets of the six 
regiments concentrated partly at Montreal and partly at Chine. 
The pickets from Montreal embarked the 1st July, those from 
Chine the 2nd, descending the Saint Lawrence to proceed by the 
river Richelieu. Though acting with the greatest promptness, 
M. de Levis did not hope to arrive at Carillon before the 10th 
July, but his energy and the willingness of his soldiers accomplish- 
ing prodigies, enabled them to gain two days and permitted them 
to disembark in time to share the dangers and the glory of their 
comrades in arms. 

( )n June 30th, at three o'clock in the afternoon, Montcalm, 
accompanied by his aides-de-camp, the Engineers Pontleroy and 
Desandrouins, made his entrance to Carillon, received with a 
salute of twelve shots from the cannon of the fort. He found 
there the eight French battalions, reduced to 2,970 men, "much 
weakened among themselves on account of the number of worth- 
less recruits and further enfeebled by the pickets of volunteers 
detached to the Chevalier de Levis;" 40 marines, 30 Canadians, 







From an old wood-cut 



54 MONTCALM 

capable of marching to battle, and 14 savages; provisions for 
nine days only and in case of urgent necessity, 36,000 cases of 
biscuit 

With these scanty resources the French General was obliged 
to meet an imminent attack by the English. The reports furnished 
Montcalm described the situation as critical, "the number of the 
enemy increases daily at the head of lake Saint Sacrement ; their 
transport is well advanced by a thousand horses and a propor- 
tionate number of oxen employed ; by the unanimous testimony 
of the prisoners their plan was to besiege Carillon and to begin 
their movements during the early days of July; 20,000 to 25,000 
men, according to their report, were engaged upon this 
expedition. ..." 

If these reports exaggerated the English forces, it is no 
less true, at the time Montcalm arrived at Carillon, the enemy had 
succeeded in concentrating to the south of lake Saint Sacrement 
an army of more than 15,000 combatants. The English colonies 
of North America had spared no means of raising considerable 
forces and providing for the expenses of an expedition from 
which they anticipated decisive results : the invasion and con- 
quest of Canada. Pitt had demanded of them 20,000 men and 
these contingents were raised under a decree "published 24th 
March 1758 in the several colonies of which the following is that 
for the raising of the contingent from New York : Act to raise, 
pay and equip 2,680 qualified men, including officers, in order to 
form, with the forces of adjoining colonies, an armv of 20,000 
men to invade the French possessions in Canada, conjointlv with 
a corps of His, Majesty's regular troops, and further orders to 
that effect." 

Militiamen of Massachusetts, Connecticut, New York, New 
[ersey and Rhode Island hastened in crowds to place themselves 
under the orders of General Abercrombie. According: to Park- 
man, the enthusiasm of these troops was stimulated by their 
chaplains, who preached a crusade against the abomination of 
Babylon and compared them already with the soldiers of Joshua, 
marching against Amalek, cursed of God. 

These militiamen numbering 9,000 were to be supported by 



BEFORE THE BATTLE OF CARILLON 55 

a strong corps of more than 6,000 regulars belonging to the 
27th, 44th, 46th, 55th, and 80th regiments of infantry, to the 
Highlanders of the 42nd regiment and to the Royal-American, 
without counting a detachment of sailors commanded by Lieu- 
tenant Colonel Bradstreet and several companies of rangers, or 
courcurs dcs bois, under the orders of Major Rogers. For their 
transport, these troops had at their disposition 900 barks, 135 
barges and a great number of flat boats, intended to convey 
a park of artillery, in sum total nearly 1,500 vessels, which were 
ready to sail the beginning of July. 

The commander of this fine army was Ala j or General Aber- 
crombie, heavy of body and mind, prematurely aged. Political 
influences had forced his selection by Pitt, but the Minister ex- 
pected the actual conduct of the army would be controlled in 
reality by an officer having the most brilliant prospects, Brigadier 
Howe, in whom it pleased him to recognize "a character worthy 
of the ancients, a perfect model of military courage." Onlv 34 
years of age, endowed with virile energy, Lord Howe had intro- 
duced some successful reforms in the army. Under his influence, 
the officers had divested themselves of all superfluous baggage 
and had only retained a blanket, a bear skin, a small portmanteau. 
"There are no female followers in the camp to do our laundry, 
wrote an officer under date of June 12, 1758. Lord Howe has 
already set an example by going to the creek and washing his 
own." Abercrombie submitted to the ascendency of his lieu- 
tenant; he recognized in him a leader of men, the regulars and 
the provincials realized in him as well, the soul of the armv. 

While the English were putting the last touches to the prep- 
aration for their embarkation, Montcalm reviewed with coolness 
the dangers of his situation and adopted prompt measures to 
avoid them. He knew too well the importance of Carillon, "the 
key of navigation and consequently of the country," to abandon 
it without fighting the enemy. "Activity and audacity are our 
only resources," he writes in his journal under date of July 1st, 
and this same day, in spite of the disproportion of his forces, he 
did not hesitate to leave the protection of the cannon of Carillon 
and occupy the north shore of lake Saint Sacrement, the carry 



5 6 MONTCALM 

where the English would probably disembark. By this move- 
ment in advance, he hoped to impress the enemy and delay their 
approach for a few days, time sufficient to enable M. de Vaudreuil 
to furnish the reinforcements the hazardous situation demanded. 

( )n the ist July, at half past five in the morning, his little 
army, divided in three brigades, began its march. The Queen 
brigade, composed of the regiments of the Queen, Guyenne and 
Beam, under the command of M. de Bourlamaque, occupied the 
head of the carry, at the northern extremity of lake Saint Sacre- 
ment. A half a league in the rear, the Royal-Roussillon brigade, 
composed of the Royal-Roussillon and the 2nd battalion of the 
Berry, established itself on the right bank of the river of the Fall, 
near a sawmill, three quarters of a league distant from Carillon. 
The La Sarre brigade, composed of La Sarre and Languedoc, 
rested on the left bank of the river of the Fall, in the neighborhood 
of the mill. The 3rd battalion of Berry alone remained encamped 
by the fort to constitute the garrison in case of an attack. It was 
not Montcalm's plan to establish himself on the shores of lake 
Saint Sacrement, at the camp at the carry, and to oppose the dis- 
embarkment of the English with all his forces, because the 
position did not favor it. Just as he suggested to M. de 
Vaudreuil, in his memorandum of June 23rd, "the post at the 
Carry is at the bottom of a cup from which the enemy would 
easily drive us, with his superior forces whenever he wished to." 
For this reason, Montcalm wisely limited himself to preventing 
the enemy from seizing the Carry "suddenly, as they might do 
in ten or twelve hours by an advance on the lake," and his object 
might have been effected probably by the occupation by one 
brigade of the northern shore of lake Saint Sacrement. 

While the battalions were taking their new positions, Mont- 
calm, accompanied by several officers, amongst others MM. de 
Pontleroy and Desandrouins, reconnoitered a position indicated 
by M. de Bourlamaque as fitting to protect the peninsula of 
( arillon. This position was flanked on the right by a swampy 
creek flowing into the Saint Frederick river and, on the left, by an 
escarpment bordering the river of the Fall. It was adjudged 
excellent for defence, but too distant from the fort to be supplied 




From an English map — 1758 



58 MONTCALM 

daily with provisions or to be properly supported ; finally and 
above all, being of too considerable a development for the small 
number of our battalions. During the afternoon, MM. de Pont- 
leroy and Desandrouins, ordered to designate a position of less 
extent and nearer to Carillon, found it at the base of the spur 
which ended at the fort and at 500 fathoms only from the latter. 
The development of this new entrenchment was not to exceed a 
front of 300 fathoms; resting on the flanks on the escarpments 
of the spur, it could be constructed rapidly by a trench, the earth 
from which, thrown from the side of the defenders, would form 
the parapet. The two Engineers projected also to reinforce this 
parapet with the trunks of trees, lying in the sense of their length, 
which the forests in the immediate vicinity of the entrenchment 
would supply. 

The selection of this latter position met the approval of Mont- 
calm and the two Engineers began on the 2nd July "to lay out and 
picket the entrenchments. Desandrouins corrected everything 
with a compass." 

One hundred Canadians or marines, escorting some boats 
loaded with 30,000 rations of provisions, arrived at Carillon the 
evening of the 1st of July. This additional supply of provisions 
assured the subsistence of our little army until the 16th or 17th 
of July. Anxious to economize his feeble resources, Montcalm 
fixed the daily ration of the soldier at a pound and a half of 
bread, half a pound of bacon and a half pound of peas. "Officers 
had one pound of bread and his servant the same. The officer 
had besides a measure of brandy. The officers had less bread, 
because they had other provisions than those of the rank and file. 
This is quite reasonable and should be endured without remon- 
strance, in the situation in which we are placed,",, Desandrouins 
wrote in his journal. 

The troops passed the day July 1st in settling themselves in 
their camps and completing the transport of their equipment. 
At night, about 7 o'clock, M. de Bourlamaque despatched two 
barges, manned by 30 men, to reconnoitre on lake Saint Sacre- 
ment. 

To supply the lacking Canadians and savages, Montcalm gave 



BEFORE THE BATTLE OF CARILLON 59 

orders, the 2nd July, to form a company of volunteers in each 
of the camps at the Fall and the Carry. The first was commanded 
by M. Duprat, Captain in the La Sarre regiment; the second by 
M. Bernard, Captain in the Beam regiment. Personally, Mont- 
calm established himself in the Fall camp "to be nearer the head 
of the Carry and the movements of the enemy." 

An alarm of short duration took place the morning of the 2nd 
July, when the report of two shots, fired from an advanced post 
of the Queen regiment, called to arms the troops of M. de Bour- 
lamaque, until the Captain commanding this post had sent word 
"to explain that his lieutenant, detached in advance with six men, 
in seeking his hunting knife, discovered a feather and had 
promptly jumped behind a tree to avoid a gun shot fired at him by 
a savage who was ready to rush him, tomahawk in hand, had he 
not been prevented by coming under fire ; that the savage avoided 
his shot by throwing himself prostrate on the ground and only 
took flight when the officer shouted : 'To the rescue, volunteers!' ' 
On July 3rd, Montcalm received a reinforcement of 80 Canadians 
and 30 marines under M. de Raymond, naval Captain. M. Le 
Mercier also arrived to take command of the artillery and de- 
livered to Montcalm letters from Marquis de Vaudreuil, advising 
him of the abandonment of the Corlar expedition and the early 
arrival of M. de Levis. 

During the day July 4th, M. de Bourlamaque employed his 
troops building a bakery and throwing a bridge over the river 
Fall, in the vicinity of the first rapid at the outlet of lake Saint 
Sacrement. He also had laid out a redoubt to defend this bridge. 
On his side, Montcalm ordered a bridge to be thrown over the 
same river, near the saw mill, to facilitate communication between 
the two brigades of La Sarre and Royal-Roussillon, who were 
still working to make facings and palisades necessary to 
strengthen the defence of Carillon. 

During the evening of July 4th, M. de Raymond rejoined M. 
de Bourlamaque with his detachment, and M. de Langy-Monteg- 
ron, naval ensign, embarked on lake Saint Sacrement at the head 
of a little reconnoitering flotilla manned by about 150 men "of 
whom 104 were of our battalions, 25 Canadians and about 20 



60 MONTCALM 

savages." The emulation was so great amongst our officers that 

i plain and seven Lieutenants marched as volunteers under the 
orders of M. de Langy, although he was their junior. 

Some of the canoes of M. de Langy returned to the Carry 
on the 5th <>f July, about 3 o'clock in the afternoon, reporting the 
end of lake Saint Sacrement covered with a large flotilla from 
which 60 barges were detached to give chase to them; that M. 
de Langy resolutely had opposed his boat alone to meet the enemy, 
who, surprised by this brave manoeuvre, fearing some trap, slack- 
ened their pursuit and gave our canoes the time to escape from 
their sight; further that M. de Langy remained on the lake to 
keep in touch with the enemy, of whom these barges were prob- 
able the advance guard. 

On this information, M. de Bourlamaque at once despatched 
under the command of M. de Trepezec, a Beam Captain, a 
detachment composed of three pickets of the Queen, Beam and 
Guyenne, volunteers, marines and Canadians, numbering about 
300 men. They were ordered to seize a mountain, called Mount 
Pelee, 3 leagues distant from the camp of the Carry and on the 
left shore of lake Saint Sacrement, with the mission to reconnoitre 
the movements of the enemy and obstruct their landing at this 
point. M. de Bourlamaque further entrusted three pickets to M. 
Germain, Captain in the regiment of the Queen, to watch over 
the shores of the lake and the Carry camp and support the 
advance guards. 

Returning to the north shore of lake Saint Sacrement at 
about 5 o'clock in the evening, M. de Langy confirmed to M. de 
Bourlamaque the report of the approach of the enemy and im- 
mediately offered to rejoin M. de Trepezec and serve him as 
guide in that difficult and densely wooded country. 

Montcalm, for his part, ordered all the troops "to hold them- 
selves on the alert," to pass the night in bivouac and to begin to 
elear away their equipment. By his order, the volunteers of 
( aptain Duprat were sent to the little Bernetz river, flowing to the 
left of that of the Fall ; it flowed into the latter at half the distance 
between the bridge of the Carry and that of the saw mill. As it 
was fordable in several places the enemy might cross it, once dis- 



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62 MONTCALM 

embarked, to reach Carillon by following the left bank of the Fall 
river. 

One hundred and fifty Canadians and marines arrived at 
Carillon during the night of the 5th under the command of three 
Captains, MM. de la Naudiere, de Saint-Ours and de Gaspe. 

Thus, as M. de Langy had foretold, the arrival of the English 
fleet was now only a question of hours. During the evening of 
the 4th July, Abercrombie had successfully embarked his artillery, 
his munitions, his baggage and his provisions. The 5th at dawn 
the army set sail, numbering 6,367 regulars and 9,024 militia. 
Officers and soldiers were filled with perfect confidence in the 
success of the expedition upon seeing the powerful fleet which 
covered with its vessels the whole extent of the lake : "The 
splendor of that summer day; the romantic beauty of the scene: 
the sparkling glitter of those crystal waters; the innumerable 
islands, covered with clumps of pine, birch and fir trees; the 
neighboring mountains with their verdant summits and their rocks 
reflecting the sunshine; the flashes of the oars and the sparkle of 
the accoutrements; the banners, the various uniforms, the notes 
of the bugle, the trumpet, the bagpipe and the drum, repeated and 
prolonged through the woods by hundreds of echoes," all con- 
tributed to make of this scene a picture of enchantment. 

The advance guard was composed of the wood rangers of 
Major Rogers, the light infantry of Colonel Gage and the sailors 
under Lieutenant Colonel Bradstreet. The main body followed 
in three columns, the centre composed of regulars in red coats, 
Lord Howe and his regiment, the 55th infantry, leading; the 
wings of militia in blue coats. Following the columns, the boats 
loaded with provisions and baggage and the heavy flat boats 
bearing the artillery, formed a special division under the protec- 
tion of a rear guard composed of militia and regulars. 

By 5 o'clock, the fleet had crossed three quarters of the lake. 
It came to a halt until 10 o'clock to await the boats of the last 
division which had more slowly advanced, then proceeded and 
arrived at dawn the 6th of July in sight of the north shore of 
lake Saint Sacrement. 

Lord I lowe, Lieutenant Colonel Bradstreet and Major Rogers 



BEFORE THE BATTLE OF CARILLON 63 

went together to reconnoitre the landings at the Carry. Discover- 
ing only a weak French detachment, they reported immediately 
to Abercrombie there would Lie no opposition to his landing. 

About 9 o'clock the British army took possession of the Carry. 
Its General, hoping to invest Carillon the same day by the left 
bank of the Fall river, formed his troops in four columns, two 
of regulars in the centre and two of militia in the wings, moving 
forward as soon as the formation was complete. 

Abercrombie had not realized the difficulties to be met in a 
country covered with a thick virgin forest, through which it was 
necessary to chop out a road. Having no outlook, advancing 
over uneven ground little known to their guides, it was not long 
before the columns were broken and commingled. After a dis- 
ordered march, long and exhausting, the British Army had ad- 
vanced but little and had not yet reached the banks of the Bernetz 
river at 4 o'clock in the evening. 

On the French side, the night of July 5th to 6th passed without 
other alarm at the advanced post of Captain Germain, than a 
little musketry fire exchanged with a party of scouts landed by 
the enemy who unsuccessfully endeavored to capture a corporal 
and the relief sentinels accompanying him. 

At dawn, on perceiving the English fleet, M. de Bourlamaque 
began the evacuation of his impedimenta which he had purposely 
delayed fearing such action "might give the impression of timid- 
ity." By 7 o'clock, he was rejoined by the pickets of M, de Ger- 
main, who fired in passing upon some of the barges of the enemy 
and had relieved all the advanced posts held by his grenadiers. 
After having delayed his departure until 8 o'clock in the hope of 
seeing the detachment of M. de Trepezec appear, he began the 
movement in retreat on the camp of the Fall, burning some few 
stores which had not then been removed and destroying the 
bridge near the first rapid of the river. In complete order and 
without the loss of a man, the Queen, Guyenne and Beam, re- 
joined Royal-Roussillon and the 2nd battalion of Berry. Mont- 
calm then withdrew the two brigades of the Queen and Royal- 
Roussillon on the left bank of Fall river and destroyed the bridge 
built near the saw mill. After being joined by La Sarre and 



64 MONTCALM 

Languedoc, the five battalions encamped on the heights near the 

mill. 

While this movement to the rear was being carried out, MM. 
de Pontleroy and Desandrouins, as early as 7 o'clock in the 
morning, began to put in a state of defence the position selected 
by them the 1st of July, and, though they had only 100 workmen 
of the 3rd battalion of Berry, they took advantage of this day 
to lay out an entrenchment and study the ground and to decide 
upon the work for the next day. 

The day of the 6th July would have passed without accident 
to the French if the detachments of M. de Trepezec had been able 
to rejoin M. de Bourlamaque or Montcalm, but, its line of retreat 
being cut, this detachment lost itself in the forest. M. de Langy, 
who was the guide, led them astray notwithstanding his knowledge 
of the ground. The few savages Montcalm was able to furnish 
him, had deserted during the march. Towards 4 o'clock in the 
afternoon, M. de Trepezec had only reached the banks of Fall 
river, near the confluence of the Bernetz river, unsuspecting 
the presence nearby of the English columns, continuing laboriously 
to make a way through the almost insurmountable obstacles of 
the forest. 

With Major Putnam and 200 wood rangers, Lord Howe 
marched at the head of the column on the right of the regulars, 
when suddenly they heard the challenge, "Qui vive?" "Franqais!" 
replied the English, though without deceiving their adversaries, 
who replied with a deadly volley. Lord Howe fell, mortally 
wounded; the column following him wavered a moment, on the 
point in' dispersing, but the firm stand of the wood rangers gave 
them time to recover, when the French detachment, overwhelmed 
by superior forces, saw themselves compelled, after a vigorous 
resistance, mostly to surrender. One hundred and forty-eight 
prisoners, including several officers, remained in the hands of 
the English. About 50 Frenchmen lost their lives in this fight, 
and only about 100 succeeded in escaping and rejoined Montcalm 
carrying M. de Trepezec mortally wounded and M. de Langy 
slightly touched. The English suffered less in the conflict, but 
the death of Lord Howe was an irreparable loss to them. Con- 




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66 MONTCALM 

temporaneously Major Thomas Mante wrote, "It seemed the 
sou] of the army of General Abercrombie expired at the death 
of Lord Howe. From the disastrous moment when the General 
was deprived of his advice order and discipline were no longer 
observed and a strange infatuation usurped the place of 
determination." 

The consequences of this fatal loss were soon to make them- 
selves felt. The whole army uselessly remained the entire night 
under arms in the midst of the forest. At dawn, as the troops 
were already very tired by the lake crossing, by their laborious 
inarch through the forest, and by the want of provisions, "having 
been obliged to throw away those they had brought with them to 
relieve themselves," Abercrombie gave the order to return to the 
shore of lake Saint Sacrement, the place where they had dis- 
embarked, and there thev arrived on the 7th July at about 8 
o'clock in the morning. 

Montcalm with joy watched the enemy making the mistake of 
throwing themselves across a forest which was like an im- 
penetrable veil and marching towards the Bernetz river, instead of 
reconstructing M. de Bourlamaque's bridge and marching straight 
on the camp of the Fall, following the easy road of the Carry. 
By this false manoeuvre, the English lost a whole day and gave 
Montcalm a respite of incalculable importance for the arrival 
of nearby reinforcements and the completion of an entrenched 
position. Without knowing of the death of Lord Howe, Mont- 
calm, watching the movements of the enemy, was able to observe 
signs of trouble and confusion. He fortunatelv felt by intuition 
that a fatal blindness governed their councils and the same eve- 
ning he wrote to his friend, the Commissioner Doreil, these 
prophetic lines which do the greatest honor to the perspicacity of 
his judgment : 'T have opposed to me a formidable army. 
Nevertheless there is nothing to make me despair. I have good 
troops. From the movements of the enemy, I see he is vacillat- 
ing, l!. by his procrastination, he gives me the time to reach 
the position I have chosen on the heights of Carillon and to 
entrench myself, I will vanquish him." 

The 6th of July at 5 130 o'clock in the evening, being warned 



BEFORE THE BATTLE OF CARILLON 67 

by the volunteers of Duprat, that the enemy was pushing ahead 
towards the Bernetz river, Montcalm ordered his little army to 
retire on Carillon. It arrived at 7 o'clock and bivouacked for the 
night. A reinforcement of 183 Canadians and marines, under 
a Captain M. de Cannes, arrived to partly make up the loss suf- 
fered by our battalions in consequence of the defeat of the de- 
tachment of M. de Trepezec. 



CHAPTER TTI 
The Battle of Carillon 

At 3 o'clock in the morning, July /th, in a reconnoissance 
of the lines of the entrenchments, MM. de Pontleroy and De- 
sandrouins served as guides to the superior officers of the Queen, 
Beam, Guyenne, Royal-Roussillon, Languedoc, La Sarre and the 
2nd battalion of Berry (the 3rd remaining to garrison the fort). 
One hundred and twenty-seven paces were apportioned to each 
battalion. The entrenchment, rock bound, followed the windings 
of the ground. Its front had a development of 300 fathoms, 
to which must be added a return of 150 fathoms, along the es- 
carpment on the right and another of 60 fathoms, along the left 
escarpment. 

Towards 5 o'clock the battalions occupied the positions as- 
signed to them. Whilst companies of grenadiers and volunteers 
advanced to cover the workers, the latter planted their flags on 
the works and labored most willingly, some digging a moat; 
others felling trees on the border of the forest, only 100 fathoms 
distant, and dragging them by hand to the entrenchment, leaving 
the stumps and the branches to obstruct the approach of the 
enemy. "The officers themselves, axe in hand, set the example." 
Montcalm passed along the lines, encouraging the workers and 
sharing with them the good humor and confidence they read on 
his face. The Engineers de Pontleroy and Desandrouins "were 
busy stimulating the soldier at work, in teaching the way to lay the 
trees and the branches and above all to make the old soldiers ap- 
preciate the excellence of the position, protected on the two wings 
by escarpments and having a front of only 300 fathoms. They 
listened very attentively to the latter exposition and gained con- 
fidence. 

Thanks to the energy of everyone, the entrenchment grew 




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as by enchantment. ''The army worked with such incredible 
ardor,"' wrote Montcalm in his journal, "that the line was in a 
state of defence the same evening." Only traverses to protect 
them from enfilade fire were lacking. The parapet was formed 
of the trunks of trees and the earth from the excavation of the 
moat. Beyond the latter, important additional means of defence 
were added by placing trees perpendicularly to the excavation, 
"(if which the branches trimmed and sharpened produced the 
effect of a chevaux de frise." The opening, 80 fathoms wide, 
which extended from the escarpment on the left to the river of 
the Fall, was barred by cutting, the defence of which was en- 
trusted to the volunteer companies of Duprat and Bernard. This 
cutting, situated in the left return of the entrenchment, was 
flanked advantageously by it. 

In the plain, 300 to 500 fathoms wide, partiallv cleared of 
trees, which extended from the right escarpment to the river 
Saint Frederick, an abatis had also been begun. The defence 
(if this abatis, lying in the rear of the right return of the entrench- 
ment and under the protection of the guns of the fort, was en- 
trusted to 450 Canadians and marines, the only reinforcements 
Montcalm had received up to this time since his arrival at Carillon, 
when, on the evening of the 7th, between 6 and 8 o'clock, our bat- 
talions greeted with their shouts the arrival of the six pickets of 
M. de Levis who had "made the utmost speed, advancing day 
and night, in spite of contrary winds, to rejoin their comrades, 
knowing they were about to be attacked immediately. Our little 
army received them with the same joy as the legions of Labientis 
also met with from the Roman cohorts under Ouintus Cicero, 
besieged by a swarm of Gauls. 

It was M. Pouchot, Captain in the Beam regiment, who led 
the First picket landed at Carillon. Being informed of the approach 
of the English on meeting couriers despatched by Montcalm to M. 
de Vaudreuil, M. Pouchot, on the 6th, had allowed his troops only 
four hours' rest, after having spent twenty-four hours rowing 
on lake Champlain, owing to a contrary wind. They none the 
less joyously set out on the 7th at the first streak of dawn, oblivi- 



THE BATTLE OF CARILLON 71 

ous to their fatigue and having only one preoccupation, to arrive 
in time for the hattle. 

If the pickets of M. de Levis were acclaimed with joy, they 
as well experienced a feeling of surprise and admiration on re- 
joining our battalions to find "a plan of entrenchments well de- 
signed to suit the nature of the ground and a prodigious work." 
On the other hand, the presence of these officers and picked 
soldiers completely dissipated the discouraging impression which 
the defeat of M. de Trepezec might have produced in some 
minds, and this result was so much the more easilv accepted when 
the new arrivals announced the proximate landing of MM. de 
Levis and Senezergues who were following them at a few hours' 
distance. Chevalier de Levis, adored by the troops, himself alone 
was a precious reinforcement of which Montcalm better than 
anyone else knew the value. During the day of the 7th, our 
volunteer companies had perfectly informed Montcalm of the 
movements of the English. Through them, he became aware 
the enemy had arrived in force to occupy our late camp of the 
Fall, on the left bank of the river, less than three quarters of a 
league from Carillon. Abercrombie, recognizing his error of the 
preceding day, had decided to follow the easier road of the Carry 
and during the morning of the 7th, ordered Lieutenant Colonel 
Bradstreet, with the 44th regiment, 6 companies of the 1st 
battalion of the Royal-American, the marines and a corps of 
woodsmen and the militia of the provinces, to occupy the saw mill. 

Towards midday Colonel Bradstreet had accomplished his 
mission without resistance and rebuilt the bridge destroyed by the 
French the day before. Leaving only a small detachment to 
protect his boats, Abercrombie joined his advance guard and es- 
tablished himself on the left bank of the Fall river. He also 
caused to be carried forward several large boats and pontoons, 
mounted with two cannons, in the hope they would aid in the 
attack which he intended to direct by land against the position of 
his adversary. 

In consequence of these preparations, Montcalm no longer 
doubted he would be attacked the following day. Notwithstand- 
ing the inequality of numbers, he saw this hour draw near with- 



MONTCALM 

out misgiving, because the strength of his position, joined to the 
valor of his troops, permitted him now to hope for a happy issue 
of the battle on which the destiny of Canada was staked. 

On the evening of the 7th, Montcalm direeted the orders, 
drawn by a master hand, to he read to the troops setting forth 
his instructions for the defence of the entrenchments: 

"Long live the King! 

"The troops will encamp within reach of their entrenchments. 
The companies being small, they will camp in two tents for 
each company. For the officers, there will be a third for each 
company. Every senior officer will attend to the discovery of 
creeks or springs, which may be to the rear of the camp, to 
supply the soldiers with water. The grenadiers will occupy their 
camj) at nightfall. The pickets will be withdrawn and will post 
themselves on the edge of the entrenchment, throwing out sentinels 
in advance. . . . 

"The Canadians and colonial troops will observe closely what 
ever happens on the right in the hollow of which they have the 
defence. 

"Officers and soldiers will sleep in their tents, completely 
dressed. . . . 

"When the seven battalions assemble fully armed at dawn, 
orders will be given for the work to be done to-morrow. Soldiers 
employed upon useful labors, as bakers, armorers, must neces- 
sarily continue. They are required for the service and equally 
serve the King. . . . 

"The troops will be pleased to learn M. de Levis will be here 
to-morrow and that within three days there will arrive a reinforce- 
ment of 300 men and 300 savages. Therefore it is only a question 
• if confidence, courage and steadfastness. M. le Marquis de Mont- 
calm expects that of his troops and promises to obtain for them 
all the rewards and advantages due to efficient service. 

"The soldiers cannot be too strictly warned that the great 
fault of the regulars lies in hasty firing without aim; the result 
is ammunition is speedily exhausted and that, the enemy continu- 
ing to fire, the soldier becomes discouraged. The officers will 
develop this important matter, which cannot be too often repeated. 
They will see to it the soldier fires slowly and they must urge 
him to take good aim. . . . 

"The battalions will form the line of battle at the first alarm. 
When they are formed, the companies of grenadiers and the 



THE BATTLE OF CARILLON 73 

pickets will remain halted, but the battalions will advance and 
occupy the trenches. They will place somewhat heavier ranks of 
soldiers at the angles flanked by the redoubts. 

"The volunteers will place themselves at the issues or exits 
of the entrenchments to make sallies when the order to do so 
is given them. 

"The companies of grenadiers will advance, in case it is re- 
quired, to the support of the detachment of their battalion, where 
they see the enemy making progress and will make sallies, if so 
ordered. 

"The battalions not engaged will give the support of their 
grenadiers and pickets to those too vigorously pressed. 

"The Canadians, camped in the hollow or lower level, will 
advance, scattering behind the trees, in support of that part ; and 
if they find it necessary to retire, thev will retire to the rear, bear- 
ing however somewhat to the right of the Queen regiment. 

"Battalion Commanders will make use of their judgment and 
experience in circumstances which cannot be foreseen. 

"It is of the greatest importance to hold the entrenchments to 
the last extremity. 

"When any order is to be passed during the attack or any 
requisition made, they are to be carried only by an officer whom 
each commander of a battalion will send for that purpose. 

"It is forbidden to make any requisition by word of mouth. 

"Each commander will have an officer aide. 

"Each brigade will send an orderly officer, at the beginning of 
the action, to M. le Marquis de Montcalm. 

"Ammunition will be served to each battalion. 

"M. de Bourlamaque is in command of the right. 

"Guards will be posted to-morrow morning in front of the en- 
trenchments, at 150 paces from the abatis. At night very fre- 
quent patrols will be made and silent signals given. 

"The guards of the camp will be posted on the border of the 
entrenchments, at the midde of each battalion. 

"M. de Bourlamaque will order the number of detachments 
outside." 

The arrival of M. de Levis caused only slight changes in these 
arrangements. Montcalm reserved for him the special command 
of the right, leaving to M. de Bourlamaque that of the left and 
keeping for himself that of the centre. 

On the 8th July, by 5 o'clock in the morning, the troops, 
covered by the ordinary guards and three companies of grena- 



74 MONTCALM 

diers, had taken their battle positions, in the following order: 
the Canadians and the marines on the extreme right, behind the 
abatis of the deep hollow; the Queen, Beam and Guyenne behind 
the right of the entrenchment ; the Royal-Roussillon, the 2nd 
battalion of Berry and four of the pickets which arrived the day 
before with M. de Levis, in the centre; the two remaining pickets 
of M. de Levis, Languedoc and La Sarre, on the left; the com- 
panies of volunteers of Bernard and Duprat protecting the cutting 
of the hollow, at the extreme left. Each battalion should have 
behind it, in line of battle and ready to give support, its company 
of grenadiers and a picket. The 3rd battalion of Berry, left 
to garrison the fort, had for its special mission to assure the 
supply of ammunition to the combatants. Only its company of 
grenadiers had been summoned to the line of fire and stationed 
in reserve at the centre. 

The total effective force of Montcalm's little army amounted 
only to 3,500 combatants. 

Under the protection of the advanced guards, the battalions 
worked to complete the entrenchments. Montcalm even contem- 
plated establishing a battery of six pieces 150 or 200 fathoms in 
the rear of the Duprat and de Bernard volunteers, but his ad- 
versary gave him no time to finish this work. 

About 10 o'clock in the morning, a detachment of the enemy, 
composed of light troops and savages, appeared on the right bank 
of the Fall river crowning the summit of a mountain whence 
they could view our entrenchments from the rear. The chief 
Engineer of the English army, Mister Clerck, accompanied this 
reconnoissance. The enemy began a futile exchange of shots 
with our volunteer companies posted on the opposite bank, but, 
as most of the bullets fell into the river, our troops ceased firing 
and continued their work. 

The savages belonged to the Iroquois Five Nations. They 
had arrived the day before, numbering 500, led by Colonel John- 
son, the same officer who had captured M. de Dieskau in 1755. 
After having taken part in this skirmish, they were obliged to be 
content to remain as spectators of the events of the day behind 
the English army. 




j i / '(/(-/ p ///// 



a ?// 



GENERAL ISRAEL PUTNAM 
Served under Major Robert Rogers, at Ticonderoga 



7 6 MONTCALM 

Abercrombie was aware, from the reports of the prisoners 
of the detachment of M. de Trepezec, that Montcalm, from hour 
to hour, was expecting reinforcements of marines, Canadians 
and savages. Eager to forestall the arrival of these reinforce- 
ments and not to give time to his adversary to complete his works, 
the English General had ordered Clerck to find out if an attack on 
the French entrenchments appeared feasible. Upon receiving a 
favorable reply from the Engineer and without awaiting his 
artillery, Abercrombie ordered his army forward. He left but 
one regiment of militia in the camp of the Fall and moved forward 
with more than 13,000 men. 

A curtain of sharpshooters, made up of selected marksmen, 
of light infantry and wood rangers, preceded the army which de- 
bouched from the forest, about twelve thirty, opposite our en- 
trenchments. It was formed in four columns, pickets and grena- 
diers leading. 

At the approach of the enemy, our advanced guards withdrew 
in good order. At a cannon shot from the fort, serving as a 
signal, the workers threw down their tools to retake their place 
in the battalions which manned the parapet of the entrenchment, 
three ranks deep, after leaving their pickets and their grenadiers 
in reserve to the rear. 

Montcalm, coatless on account of the heat, was stationed at 
the centre, having beside him M. de Montreuil, Major General, 
M. de Bougainville, since three days appointed to the duties of 
Adjutant General, MM. de la Rochebeaucourt and Marcel, his 
aides-de-camp, also M. Desandrouins, who, his duty as engineer 
finished, had begged the honor of being attached to the person of 
li i s General during the battle. 

Abercrombie had ordered his troops to "advance rapidly, to 
throw themselves forward in the midst of the enemy's fire, but 
to reserve their own, until the works themselves were actually 
entered." While the right column of the English attempted to 
turn the left of our entrenchments and came under the fire of 
the La Sarre regiment, another column attacked the salients of the 
line between the Languedoc and Berry. A third column was di- 
rected against the centre, opposite the Royal-Roussillon and 



THE BATTLE OF CARILLON 77 

Guyenne. And the left column assaulted the front manned by 
the Beam and Queen. 

Before reaching the abatis, the English columns were received 
with a murderous fire. The sections leading, halted and opened 
fire themselves, and, under the cover of this discharge and that 
of the selected sharpshooters who "hidden behind stumps and 
trunks of trees crowded the intervals and wings of the columns," 
the troops which followed them made repeated assaults on the 
abatis, but "our musketry fire was so well aimed the enemy was 
destroyed as soon as they appeared." The vigorous attacks of 
the assailants were repulsed on every side by the sustained and 
well aimed fire of the defenders. According to the instructions 
of Montcalm, our soldiers were allowed to fire at will, a manner 
of firing at which the French excelled. The officers confined 
themselves to supervising the direction of this fire and the ex- 
penditure of ammunition. During all the battle, their task was 
facilitated "by the courage of the troops, who devoted their whole 
attention to firing properly and getting a good aim at whoever 
showed himself." 

"Impossible," wrote the Engineer Desandrouins, "to find 
greater coolness and courage than one witnessed that day in the 
soldier. I can testify not one of them fired without singling out 
his man and that the most of them frequently waited some time 
until a sharpshooter, posted behind a stump, fairly exposed him- 
self, so as not to miss him, though bullets were raining about 
them like hail." 

Montcalm and his lieutenants, MM. de Levis and de Bour- 
lamaque, watching the course of the battle, reinforced with grena- 
diers and the pickets the points successively menaced by the enemy, 
who, repulsed in one spot, courageously began the assault of 
another, so that "every part of the entrenchments was successively 
attacked with the greatest vigor." Montcalm's aides-de-camp 
constantly brought him reports of the spirit and good humor of 
the soldiers in the battle. Referring to the delavs of M. de Vau- 
dreuil in the despatch of reinforcements, thev were heard crying 

aloud : "Mi de Vaudreuil has sold the country, but f , we 

will not permit him to deliver it. He has sacrificed us to make 



;S MONTCALM 

us cut the C , let us defend them. Long live the King and 

our General." Throughout the lines, the battalions showed no 
preoccupation save for one thing, to know if their flanks were 
sa fe. Whenever they heard an increase in the firing by the enemy, 
there was but one cry: "Take care at the right, take care at the 
left." 

The Engineer Desandrouins, sent on several occasions by 
Montcalm to the line of Are to report "whether they had need of 
support," evervwhere received the same reply: "We have no need 
of support here, but take care lest there should be a need else- 
where." With an admirable understanding of the human heart, 
Desandrouins shouted to the soldiers on the right and on the 
left, to each in turn, who asked for news of what was happening: 
"On the other wing, there are more than 1,500 English, with 
their bellies in the air; the others are routed and their column 
no longer dares to show itself. There remain only the wicked 
sharpshooters behind the stumps, whom they amuse themselves in 
dispersing. I had then the pleasure of witnessing the wildest 
transports of joy and of hearing them encouraging themselves to 
light bv shouts of 'Long live the King!' On coming to another 
section, I made the same speech, appealing to the veterans by 
name and telling them: 'We will get them cheaply: you are all 
courageous and good marksmen. They no longer dare show 
themselves anywhere." ' Several times during the battle, torches 
made from wadding and cartridges, set fire to the abatis, but 
always amongst the soldiers were found volunteers to cross the 
parapet in the open and extinguish the flames in view of the 
enemy. 

Certain incidents worthy of notice occurred during the battle. 
( >n the extreme left, some twenty barges and pontoons of the 
enemy debouched, almost at the beginning of the battle, from the 
mouth of Fall river, but the Duprat and de Bernard volunteers 
fired on them in passing, in conjunction with the Grenadier com- 
pany and the picket of Royal-Roussillon, under the orders of M. 
de Poulharies, who had posted themselves on the banks of the 
river. The cannon of the fort, ably served by M. de Louvicourt, 
Lieutenant in the Royal Corps, who himself aimed the pieces. 



THE BATTLE OF CARILLON 79 

swamped two of the pontoons by a few shots. The remaining 
boats of the enemy retired and did not reappear during the day. 

At the centre, the Berry battalion, under fire for the first 
time and largely composed of recruits, wavered for a moment. 
The soldiers even abandoned the parapet of the entrenchment ; 
but before the companies of Grenadiers had need to intervene, 
the officers gained control of their men and led them back "so 
promptly, the enemy did not perceive it." 

At the centre also a misunderstanding of the two adversaries 
nearly allowed the English to enter our entrenchments. As the 
Ensigns of the Guyenne regiment waved their flags every time 
they heard the cry "Long live the King!" the English believed it 
was a signal from their adversaries offering to surrender. They 
ran to the entrenchment uplifting their arms and crying: 
"Quarter, Quarter." On our side, the soldiers, attributing the 
same intentions to the English, replied to them : "Lav down your 
arms, lay down your arms." The enemy not doing it and always 
advancing, a volley of musketry was fired by our men, who had 
half the body raised above the entrenchment, which, coming from 
all sides, few were able to escape. 

On the extreme right, the Canadians and the marines were 
not attacked. M. de Levis sent them two of the Queen officers : 
M. d'LIert, Adjutant, and M. Desnoes, Captain, to get them to 
make a sortie and take the left column of the enemy on the flank, 
but without success, as only a few Canadians followed M. de Ray- 
mond and their officers. The greater part contented themselves 
with firing on the enemy at long range, although they had been 
reinforced, at about 4 o'clock, by 250 militia led by M. Duplessis, 
Lieutenant, and Boisvert, clerk of commissary, who on landing 
at Carillon had come to increase the number of the defenders 
of the abatis on our right. 

During four hours, the enemy renewed his attacks, which 
were "nearly everywhere of an equal violence." About 5 o'clock 
in the evening his two left columns were combined to make a 
supreme effort against the salient angle of the entrenchment 
defended by the right of Guyenne and the left of Beam. "The 
space attacked by the doubled column did not exceed 20 fathoms ; 



80 MONTCALM 

it was not fortified and dipped down; the enemy approached 
within half range tinder cover." The Highlanders, who had not 
ceased to give proofs of the highest courage throughout the day, 
led the column to the assault. They reached the foot of the 
abatis and, for a moment, Montcalm feared the entrenchment 
would be entered at that point. He personally ran there with a 
party of Grenadiers and of the pickets, while the Chevalier de 
Levis, seeing his right free of danger, doubled up, much to the 
purpose, the Queen battalion with those of Guyenne and Beam. 
The assault broken by the fire of the defenders, the enemy were 
again obliged to retire, leaving the vicinity of the abatis covered 
with his dead. The Highlanders, of admirable courage, them- 
selves alone, in killed and wounded had lost 25 officers and half 
of' their effectives. 

After this last supreme effort, the enemy attacks diminished 
in violence and, between 6 and 7 o'clock, they merely maintained 
a lire along the whole front by sharpshooters, so as to gain time 
to remove the wounded and cover the retreat of his columns to 
the camp of the Fall. 

Towards 7 o'clock, several soldiers of Beam surmounted 
tlii' entrenchment, put to flight or killed the sharpshooters, am- 
bushed behind the nearest stumps of trees, and brought back 
some prisoners. 

From them it was learned the English intended to renew the 
attack the next morning. These reports, the approach of night, 
"the exhaustion and the small number of our troops, the forces 
of the enemy, who though defeated, were still infinitely superior 
to ours, the character of the forest in which one may not enter 
without savages against an army which had 400 or 500, several 
entrenchments which the enemy had made, the one behind the 
other from the field of battle to the camp :" such were the obstacles 
which caused Montcalm to determine not to pursue the English 
in their retreat. 

One can readily believe, after the fatigues of these last two 
days our troops felt the need of some rest. During the battle 
each soldier had tired between 70 and 80 shots, which obliged them 
"to exchange a number of guns during the action," but cartridges 





GENERAL THOMAS GAGE 
With Abercrombie at Ticonderoga 



82 MONTCALM 

were never lacking to the defenders. M. de Frecesson, Com- 
mandant of the 3rd Berry battalion, had given his attention to 
supplying them with abundant ammunition, either with the assist- 
ance of carts, or with the help of men of his battalion who, without 
being on the firing line, did not escape some loss in the crossing 
from the fort to the entrenchments. 

As the heat had been great during the entire day, Montcalm 
had also ordered that barrels of water should be conveyed from 
the fort to the entrenchments, a duty admirably performed by 
the 3rd Berry battalion. 

Towards 7 130 o'clock, Montcalm ordered cease firing, it being 
sustained only by some marksmen ambushed on the borders of 
the forest. Then, accompanied by Chevalier de Levis, he passed 
along the front of the battalions, happy to be able to thank and 
congratulate them on their extraordinary bravery. He was re- 
ceived with repeated acclamations. 

After having taken some moments of repose, the troops passed 
the night cleaning their arms and in reinforcing the defence of 
the entrenchments, in anticipation of a renewed assault the next 
day. Lacking traverses, which they hastened to make, many 
sections of the lines had been subject to enfilade fire of the enemy, 
and, though our battalions fought under cover, they had suffered 
perceptible losses. 

Amongst the Staff, M. de Bourlamaque had been seriously 
wounded in the shoulder, M. de Bougainville slightly in the head, 
Chevalier de Levis had received two bullets through his hat. 

The battalions lost 12 officers killed and 25 wounded, two of 
them mortallv. The number of soldiers killed amounted to 92, 
that of the wounded to 248. The marines and the Canadians 
contributed to these losses 2 officers wounded, 10 soldiers killed 
and 1 1 wounded. 

Though the French had lost in killed and wounded a tenth 
1 >f their effectives, the English, more sorely tried, had to deplore 
the loss of 2,000 of theirs, about a sixth of the number of troops 
engaged. In his letter to Pitt, dated July 12, 1758, Abercrombie 
acknowledges "464 men of the regular troops killed, 29 missing, 
and 1,117 wounded; 87 men of the provincial militia killed, 8 



THE BATTLE OF CARILLON 83 

missing and 239 wounded, the officers being included in the 
foregoing." 

At dawn on the 9th July, our troops confidently awaited the 
renewal of the English assault, but opposite them nothing came 
to trouble the stillness of the forest. Companies of volunteers, 
sent out to reconnoitre, advanced even to the mill of the Fall 
without finding any further sign of the enemy than the remains 
of the boats which they had burned. 

The 10th of July, Chevalier de Levis, detached with the eight 
companies of Grenadiers, the volunteers and about fifty 
Canadians, advanced as far as the Carry. He observed manifold 
signs of a precipitate flight on the part of the enemy. 

Since early in the morning July 9th Abercrombie had retired 
to the north shore of lake Saint Sacrement and his army, which 
three days ago had landed on this shore in admirable order, 
believing they were advancing to certain victory, so great was 
their confidence in their strength, reembarked hastily, profoundly 
shaken in morale and, notwithstanding their superior numbers, 
quite incapable of facing the dangers of a renewed battle. 

Fifteen thousand men fled from before three thousand. 
Canada was saved. The victory of our little army seemed such a 
prodigy, Montcalm and his soldiers ascribed it above all to divine 
intervention, to the "direct finger of Providence." Therefore, 
on the 12th July, the French General held a review of the bat- 
talions and had a Te Deum sung in grateful acknowledgment on 
the stage of the battle itself. The religious fervor of that army, 
the majestic frame of the scene, the grandeur of the forest now 
given up to silence and repose, the calm of the lakes and of the 
transparent waters of the rivers, with banks covered with lux- 
uriant vegetation, all contributed to engrave ineffaceably on the 
minds of those present the memory of this day of triumph. 

In all our military history there is probably no action wherein 
Commander, officers and soldiers brought in higher relief the 
warlike qualities of our race. From the very beginning Montcalm 
clearly perceived the danger which menaced Carillon. He had 
only a handful of men to oppose to the English, a fort scarcely 



,-, .; i :i i ..r/./.vj: 




]'ul-i...!,..l .;. KjjjSa bj IJFiddiiu) TaUf-wUrJRoH IStweU.&mkHi.klDciinltJ'ia ;./.!/. 



GEORGE AUGUSTUS, LORD HOWE 
Killed at Ticonderoga, July 6, 1758 



THE BATTLE OF CARILLON 85 

begun as a support and supplies for only a few days in store. 
Nevertheless he accepts the challenge, and, from the time of his 
arrival, far from taking refuge under the cannon of the fortress, 
he adopts a formation in echelon which would give the enemy 
an impression of a larger force and would permit him to delay the 
march of the enemy for some days, time sufficient to allow his 
soldiers, from whom he knew he could ask anything, to construct 
formidable entrenchments. The choice of the position selected 
to defend Carillon and the order read to the troops on the eve 
of the battle, confer the highest honor on the appreciation of the 
situation and foresight of Montcalm. But he is shown to be a 
great commander especially in having realized, during the first 
manoeuvres of Abercrombie, that his adversaries hesitated and 
wavered, that a fatal blindness obsessed them and that they would 
fall before him as a prey. Besides, his coolness during those 
eight days never for a moment fails. 

Thus, as he wrote to his mother, Montcalm had not "the 
least anxiety since June 30th," the day of his arrival at Carillon. 
He inspired with this calm confidence those near him, both 
officers and men, by whom he was adored and from whom he was 
certain of absolute support in the hour of danger. "Long live the 
King and our General!" was their rallying cry and under fire 
they lavished the bravery, the activity, the gaiety, which make of 
our soldiers a warlike tool of incomparable pliancy. 

Modestlv reserved after his victory, Montcalm thought only 
of attributing the glory of that day to his comrades in arms. 
"All the commanders of corps, he writes to M. de Vaudreuil, the 
9th of July, and in general, all the officers, behaved in such a way 
that I can only claim the merit of finding myself the Commander 
of such valorous troops and fulfilling the duty of affording them 
support successively, as the sections of our abatis were more or 
less actively assaulted." To his friend Doreil he made this mag- 
nificent tribute to the courage of our soldiers : "The Army, the 
very small army of the King, has vanquished its enemies. What 
a day for France! Tf I had had 200 savages to serve as guides 
to a detachment of 1,000 selected men, of which I would have 
entrusted the command to M. de Levis, not many of them would 




MONUMENT TO LORD HOWE IN WESTMINSTER ABBEY 



THE BATTLE OF CARILLON 87 

have escaped in their flight. Ah! what troops, my dear Doreil, 
are these of ours ! I have never seen any to equal them." Then, 
as a sign revealing the deep affection of Montcalm for his valiant 
army, the day following the battle his only thought is given to 
obtain for them the most distinguished rewards of the King. 
"If there ever were a body of troops worthy of reward," he writes 
to Marshal de Belle-Isle the 12th of July, "it is the one I have the 
honor to command. So I beg of you, my lord, to surfeit them 
and grant them all that I have had the honor to propose to you." 

For himself he only asks the favor to be recalled : "My health 
suffers, my purse is exhausted. I will be 10,000 ecus in debt to 
the Treasurer General of the Colony at the end of the year and, 
more than anything else, the annoyances, the contradictions I 
experience, the impossibility as I am situated of doing good or 
preventing evil, determine me to earnestly beg His Majesty to 
grant this favor, my only ambition." For his seconds, MM. de 
Levis and de Bourlamaque, Montcalm declares he will only be 
satisfied if they are promoted to Major General and Brigadier: 
"If I have acquired any glory from this day, I share it with MM. 
de Levis and de Bourlamaque and especially with the former, M. 
de Bourlamaque having had the misfortune to be wounded before 
the battle was over. I think, my lord, that far from any one 
being jealous of the promotion to Major General and Brigadier, 
which I entreat the King to grant them, one would rather feel 
astonished they had not obtained it." 

The other officers of the staff were not forgotten. The rank 
of Colonel is asked for M. de Bougainville, who "had been 
wounded" and possesses "talent and intelligence," also for Cheva- 
lier de Montreuil who "behaved on that day with much courage; 
of that I was confident, but also with an energv of which I did 
not think him capable. This officer should be at the head of a 
corps, he deserves favors. ..." Montcalm emphasizes the valu- 
able cooperation lent him at this decisive period for the safety of 
Canada by MM. de Pontleroy and Desandrouins : "I cannot 
repeat too often, he wrote to Marshal de Belle-Isle, the 29th of 
July, in a special memorandum, that the success (of the action 
on the 8th) was due to the abatis laid out and constructed by MM. 



88 MONTCALM 

de Pontleroy and Desandrouins ; the former served the King ex- 
cellently, in spite of the annoyances he encountered and for which 
vim should properly indemnify him. I shall be much obliged to 
von, if you treat him well; the latter, besides doing his duty, 
noted as my Aide-de-camp on the day of the 8th. Therefore, I 
regard the Cross of St. Louis, which I solicit for him, as a per- 
sonal favor." 

In order to reward the leaders of corps, Montcalm asked for 
two P>rigadierships : one for M. de Roquemaure, the ranking 
officer, who "conducted himself well" during the action of the 8th; 
the other for M. de Senezergues, who is only third in the order of 
seniority, after M. de Fontbonne ; but M. de Senezergues, of our 
Lieutenant Colonels, is the one most capable of commanding a 
corps with dignity, the one who is the busiest here and the only 
one you could trust at the peace, if two battalions were to be left 
t"< ir a year or two. He serves for honor and ambition, since he is 
of independent means. In the matter of creating two Brigadiers, 
of whom one is out of turn, I should feel inclined to favor him 
and augment the pension of M. de Fontbonne; if M. de Roque- 
maure alone is promoted, it should be evident from the reply to 
be made to me, the King knows there are other Lieutenant 
Colonels who might aspire to the same rank." 

Besides, in a long memorandum Montcalm reviews the pro- 
motions and rewards due to particular officers. This work 
breathes the profound feeling of justice and equity which ani- 
mated Montcalm and caused him to weigh, at their real value, 
the merits of each officer. Nothing, however, is comparable to 
the skill he exercised in making them conspicuous, without for- 
getting anyone. 

When they learned at Versailles the details of this unexpected 
victory, which redounded so greatly to the honor of the French 
name, unqualified admiration arose for Montcalm and his brave 
army. Louis XV himself, shaking off his indifference, engaged 
the Bishops of the kingdom to chant a Te Deum in honor of the 
success carried off "by our brave soldiers in Canada." On his 
arrival at Court, Bougainville, despatched by Montcalm to present 
in its true light the critical situation of the Colony, heard the 




SIR WILLIAM JOHNSON, BARONET 



In command of Indians with Abercrombic 



9 o MONTCALM 

Marshal de Belle-Isle declare "in full audience, that if it were pos- 
sible to create a Marechal de France from a Marechal de Camp, 
the King would have granted the favor to the Marquis de Mont- 
calm."' Bougainville also had the pleasure of noting the whole 
of France associated itself in the wish of the King: "The entire 
Country has charged me with compliments for you," he wrote to 
Montcalm, the 1 8th March 1759. ". . . I should have to name 
all France if I tried to name all the persons who love you and hope 
to see you Marechal de France. The little children know your 
name. ..." 

During the month of March 1759 M. de Bougainville em- 
barked at Bordeaux. He was entrusted with the memorandum 
containing the rewards from the King, proposed by Montcalm 
and recommended by Marshal de Belle-Isle, by which the eight 
French battalions in Canada were overwhelmed. Montcalm was 
raised to the rank of Lieutenant General, without further question 
of his recall, having himself renounced it. The capture of Louis- 
burg, at the end of July 1758, and of fort Frontenac, during the 
last days of August, made him foresee the early loss of Canada. 
heeling it was not the time to make recriminations, he forgot the 
humiliations and wounds to his self-respect and wrote to the 
Minister of War, the 9th of September 1758: "I had asked for 
my recall after the glorious day of the 8th July, but, since the 
affairs of the Colony are going badly, it is for me to endeavor to 
repair them and delay the loss as much as I am able to do." 

( reneral, officers and soldiers learned through M. de Bou- 
gainville in the month of May 1759, that France, unable to send 
them any further reinforcements, abandoned them to their own 
resources, but this depressing news caused them no discourage- 
ment. The remembrance of their fatigues, of their dangers, of 
their isolation, vanished before the munificence of the royal re- 
wards which diminished the importance of the most envied 
promotions. 

No blame, no murmur was raised against the mother country 
and M. de Bougainville, a witness of the satisfaction of his com- 
rades in arms, was able to write to the Minister of War, the 16th 
May 1 7 5 < ^ : "The enormous force (of the English) is known, 



THE BATTLE OF CARILLON 91 

but that knowledge only serves to augment the zeal of the troops. 
The favors you have obtained for them, my lord, the assurance 
they have of the satisfaction of His Majesty, spread a joy and an 
enthusiasm, dissipating the hardships and dangers of all kinds 
which encompass us."' 

On learning of his promotion to Lieutenant General, Mont- 
calm discreetly attributed the honor to the valor of his soldiers : 
"Say to the troops, he directed M. de Bourlamaque on the 15th of 
May 1759, then at Carillon, that I am very grateful for my pro- 
motion, which I owe to the distinguished manner in which they 
served under my orders." To the Minister of War, the next day, 
he guaranteed that his little army and himself, by an unlimited de- 
votion, would show their appreciation of the magnificent rewards 
of the King. " . . .1 am as much overwhelmed as grateful for 
the favor His Majesty has granted in promoting me to the rank 
of Lieutenant General. This favor will add to my zeal for His 
service, if such a thing is possible. I am not less grateful for all 
that you have obtained for MM. de Levis, de Bourlamaque, de 
Senezergues, de Montreuil, de Bougainville and to the corps of 
troops which I have the honor to command. We are probably 
on the eve of events which will make it possible to deserve more 
and more the kindness of His Majesty, and I dare promise you an 
absolute devotion to save this unhappy Colony or perish." 

It is well known how Montcalm and his soldiers kept their 
word. A few months later, he himself fell like a hero, under the 
walls of Quebec. 

Before abandoning a hopeless struggle, the victors of Carillon : 
The Queen, Beam, Guyenne, Royal-Roussillon, Berry, Languedoc 
and La Sarre, unsupported save by their own courage, during a 
year still continued to dispute Canada with the invaders and 
astonished our enemies by the energy of their resistance. 

Faithful to their past and to the memory of Montcalm, they 
shed a consoling ray of glory on those last days of New France, 
so dark and so imbued with sadness. 

FINIS 



